Crowley Maritime christens its second LNG-ready product tanker
Crowley Maritime Corporation has christened the second of its four new liquefied natural gas (LNG) Jones Act product tankers at the South Florida Petroleum Terminal.
Named Texas, the 600ft-long vessel was constructed by Aker Philadelphia Shipyard (APSI), the wholly owned US subsidiary of Aker Philadelphia Shipyard.
It will join the fleet with its sister ship, Ohio, which was christened in November.
Jensen Maritime, Crowley’s Seattle-based, naval architecture and marine engineering subsidiary, provided construction management services for the vessels.
The 50,000dwt tanker is based on a Hyundai Mipo Dockyards (HMD) design and has a barrel-capacity totalling 330,000dwt.
The tankers meet the latest regulatory requirements and incorporate numerous fuel efficiency features, equipped with flexible cargo capability.
“This will be a high-performance vessel capable of meeting or exceeding our customers’ petroleum transportation needs within the US Coastwise trade.”
The vessel is designed to ferry crude oil or refined petroleum products.
Crowley petroleum services group senior vice-president and general manager Rob Grune said: “Not only will this be a high-performance vessel capable of meeting or exceeding our customers’ petroleum transportation needs within the US Coastwise trade, it will do so in a way that is more environmentally friendly than those that have come before her.”
The tanker has received the American Bureau of Shipping’s (ABS) LNG-Ready Level One approval that will enable the company to convert the tanker to LNG propulsion in the future.
The remaining three product tankers are also being built by APSI for Crowley, with planned deliveries through 2016.