Page 5: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 1994)

HNS Wins Contract To Renovate American Hawaii Cruise Ship

Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) and American Hawaii Cruises signed a contract for NNS to reno- vate the cruise ship SS Indepen- dence. The ship will finish its Ha- waii service on July 2,1994 and sail to the Virginia shipyard for the two- month drydock on July 19. The ship will resume inter-island service around the Hawaiian islands on

October 8,1994. The shipyard work is part of an overall $28 million renovation of the U.S.-flag cruise ship. The 683-ft (208.2-m) ship, along with her sistership, the SS

Constitution, operates three, four and seven-day cruises among the

Hawaiian islands. They are the only two U.S.-flag liners in opera- tion. The SS Constitution will also be refitted in the near future, and

American Hawaii has reportedly decided that work will also be done by a U.S. shipyard.

According to Bob Leber, direc- tor of shiprepair at NNS, the con- tract represents much more to the yard than its dollar value. "This is one more incremental step in our strategic plan to get back into the building of commercial vessels," he said. ("NNS Gets Letter of Intent

For Four Tankers," see story page 140, this issue). That plan, said Mr.

Leber, addresses two major tasks for NNS: 1) re-establishing industry's confidence in NNS's abil- ity to construct commercial ships, and 2) rebuilding the internal infra- structure necessary for the actual construction of those ships. "In 1992 we refurbished four commercial ves- sels, and in 1993 we did nine," he said. "In 1994, we'll at least equal that number." NNS will be project manager for the entire renovation; while they have been back in com- mercial shiprepair for some two and a half years, this is the first time since that re-entry that they've been given that distinction, according to

Mr. Leber. The renovation will consist of marine work including structural repairs and machinery replacement, extensive hotel work including cabin renovation and up- grading air conditioning, electrical and pollution control systems.

Congressman Herb Bateman (R-Va.), who represents the area where the shipyard is located, said, "As the winner among 16 other ship- yards, including two foreign ship- yards, Newport News is showing this nation and the world that it will not just be the premier shipyard for naval construction projects, but it can and will regain the same stat- ure in the commercial market."

SS Constitution will go into drydock in 1995, and the question of who will get the contract for her refit is still undecided. "The yard that has the first ship has a better chance of getting the second," said

NNS's Mr. Leber. "But we have to prove ourselves on the first ship."

For more information on New- port News Shipbuilding,

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