Page 13: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 2002)

NASSCO and TOTE

Christen Midnight Sun

National Steel and Shipbuilding Com- pany (NASSCO) has joined with Totem

Ocean Trailer Express, Inc. (TOTE) to christen M.V. Midnight Sun, the first commercial dry cargo vessel to be built in the U.S. in 10 years. Midnight Sun is the first of two new Orca-class trailer- ships being built by NASSCO for

TOTE's service from Tacoma, Wash., to

Anchorage, Alaska.

Lynn Garvey, wife of Mike Garvey,

Chairman of the Board of TOTE's parent

Halter Launches First

J&L Barge

Halter Marine has launched Capella (meaning the brightest star in the con- stellation Auriga) an 80,000-barrel tank barge for J&L, Inc. The barge, the first project Halter has undertaken for J&L, was built at Halter's Gulfport, Miss.

Yard for an August 30 delivery.

Measuring 332 ft. (101.1 m), with a beam of 74 ft. (22.5 m) and a depth of 25 ft. (7.6 m), the barge is built to U.S.

Coast Guard standards under Sub-chap- ter D, as a tank barge certified to carry

Grade A or lower bulk petroleum prod- ucts. The barge also qualifies to be cer- tified by ABS under the +A1 Oil Tank

Barge designation.

The facility, technical, managerial and

New & Notable manpower assets of the Halter business unit are in the process of being trans- ferred to VT Kinetics. After the closing, which is expected to take place no later than the end of August 2002, the new name of this company will be VT Halter

Marine, Inc.

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TOTE's 840-ft. (256-m) M.V. Midnight Sun was floated out at NASSCO in August. company, Saltchuk Resources, Inc., and

Lily Stevens, the daughter of Senator

Ted Stevens (R- Alaska), were the ship's sponsors, christening M.V. Midnight

Sun with ceremonial bottles of cham- pagne. Senator Stevens, who is serving in his seventh term in the U.S. Senate, was the keynote speaker at the event.

M.V. Midnight Sun, and its sister ship,

M.V North Star, are 840 x 118-ft. (256 x 35.9-m) RoRo cargo ships offering the option to carry trailers as large as 53 ft.

The ships' cargo can be loaded and dis- charged in nine hours, with the speed and efficiency of this process being an important competitive advantage for

TOTE.

M. V. Midnight Sun and M. V. North

Star have already received several pres- tigious awards for their environmentally sensitive design. These include the

States/British Columbia Oil Spill Task

Force Legacy Award for 2000, the Alas- ka Department of Environmental Con- servation Commissioner's 2000 Pollu- tion Prevention Award, and the Biennial

William M. Benkert Foundation 2002

Environmental Excellence Bronze

Award. With Midnight Sun scheduled for delivery in early 2003, North Star will be christened on March 15, 2003, for a summer 2003 delivery.

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CHEMICAL CARRIERS * • V1 I ffcvJIl

SE f •

As the result of the merger between the renowned Spanish builders Astilleros Espanoles and Bazan, IZAR is one of the largest shipbuilding groups in the world.

Our mission is to help shipowners match the increasing demands of a competitive shipping market.

And we have a wealth of experience in doing so.

IZAR has built some of the most sophisticated chemical carriers for shipowners all over the world.

From chemical parcel arrangements to ships with stainless steel tanks, IZAR has designed and built chemical carriers incorporating the latest technologies.

But also built to meet the strictest safety and environmental regulations, as dictated by the market.

And, most importantly, we are ready to meet any demand.

Let IZAR help build your Utopia.

WHO ELSE

BUT IZAR?

P° de la Castellana, 55 • 28046 MADRID. Spain • Tel. +34 91 335 84 00 • Fax +34 91 441 50 90 • www.izar.es

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September, 2002 15