General Dynamics NASSCO shipbuilders have delivered the Constitution, an American Jones Act-qualified ECO Class tanker, to SEA-Vista LLC.
The ship was delivered during a special signing ceremony at the company’s shipyard in San Diego.
The Constitution is a 610-foot-long, 50,000 deadweight-ton, LNG-conversion-ready product tanker with a 330,000 barrel cargo capacity.
The new ECO Class design symbolizes the emerging direction of the shipping industry in the U.S. toward cleaner, more fuel-efficient modes of transporting product.
Construction on the ship began in June 2015.
(See in Action! Courtesy of General Dynamics NASSCO and Vimeo)
On Saturday, August 27th, shipbuilders at General Dynamics NASSCO celebrated the christening and launch of the Constitution.
The Constitution was built for SEA-Vista, a partnership between SEACOR Holdings Inc. and Avista Capital Partners, and will be operated by Seabulk Tankers, Inc.
NASSCO is the only major shipyard on the West Coast of the United States designing, building and repairing commercial and U.S. Navy ships.
In July 2016, NASSCO marked its seventh ship delivery in just over a year.
Equivalent to more than 100,000 tons of steel, notable deliveries within that year included three lead ships: the world’s first containership powered by liquefied natural gas, the U.S. Navy’s first Expeditionary Sea Base, and the nation’s most fuel efficient product tanker.
(What is the Jones Act? Find out here. Courtesy of American Maritime Partnership and YouTube)
As part of an eight-ship program for two separate customers, the Constitution is the sixth ECO Class tanker built by NASSCO shipbuilders to recently join the Jones Act trade.
“With this program we contracted with two customers seeking similar capabilities,” said Kevin Graney, vice president and general manager for General Dynamics NASSCO.
“A steady production run of eight ships improves hull-to-hull learning and has allowed us to deliver increasingly higher-quality, world-class vessels,”
The Jones Act requires that ships carrying cargo between U.S. ports be built in U.S. shipyards and is responsible for more than 500,000 good-paying jobs countrywide.
NASSCO is the only major shipyard on the west coast of the United States conducting design, construction and repair of commercial and U.S. Navy ships. For its commercial work, NASSCO partners with South Korean shipbuilding power, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), for access to state-of-the-art ship design and shipbuilding technologies.
For more information about General Dynamics NASSCO, a business unit of General Dynamics, visit www.nassco.com.
