Page 14: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2004)

News

New Ferries for Hawaii?

Hawaii Superferry and Austal USA last month signed an agreement that could result in new passenger-vehicle catamarans for Hawaiian waters to cre- ate a commercial high-speed interisland ferry service. Hawaii Superferry plans

NASSCO Gets $578M

Option T-AKE's

NASSCO was awarded a $578 million fixed-price-incentive modification under previously awarded contract to exercise options for design and con- struction of the fifth and sixth ships in the Dry Cargo/Ammunition Ship (T-

AKE) Class. Work is expected to be completed by July 2007.

TEN Orders A Series of

Ice-Class Product Carriers

Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited (TEN) has ordered two Handysize. dou- ble hull, 1A ice-class tankers, with car- rying capacity of 37,000 dwt each. The vessels have a contract price of just under $30 million per ship and are scheduled for delivery in September and

December of 2006. TEN also holds options for two additional sister ships of the same specifications, which would be delivered in March and June of 2007.

MarAd Approves

Deepwater LNG Port

A new deepwater liquid natural gas (LNG) port was approved by the U.S.

Maritime Administration. The LNG port, to be built by El Paso Energy

Bridge Gulf of Mexico LLC about 116 miles south of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico, is a terminal to process and transfer natural gas received from LNG transport ships to a pipeline system, which will carry the natural gas ashore for distribution to U.S. markets.

TOTAL Signs Charters for

Stena Tankers

TOTAL has signed a five year charter of the first two Stena P-MAX tankers currently under construction. The new

P-MAX (Product-Max) class of tankers are medium-sized, short and wide-bod- ied with reduced draft. They have an intermediate loading capacity of 65,000 ton, between the standard 45,000 ton vessels and the 70 to 80,000 ton

Panamax. These tankers, specially designed for efficient and safe trans- portation, are under construction in the

Croatian shipyard Brodosplit in Split for delivery in 2006. to use Austal USA-built, high-speed,

RoRo vessels to create "Hawaii's

Interisland Highway," with catamarans carrying passengers, vehicles and freight between Oahu. Kauai, Maui and the Big Island, beginning in 2006.

Under the agreement, Hawaii

Superferry plans to purchase two 340-ft. catamaran ferries — able to carry 900 passengers and 280 vehicles, including trucks and buses — for delivery during 2006-2008 "For many years, I have envisioned 'a marine highway' for our islands, so I am pleased with the progress that Hawaii

Superferry has made in creating an interisland ferry system that will serve

Oahu, Kauai, Maui and the Big Island," said Senator Daniel K. Inouye, who has secured more than $25 million in feder- al funds for the development of ferry infrastructure. Final funding for the project is pending.

Circle 89 on Reader Service Card

The National Ports Authority of South Africa currently ranks within the top 12 nations of the world with regards to maritime freight activity. Its system of ports handle on average of 12 000 million ton-miles of maritime freight annually, which constitutes about 6% of all maritime global activity. That is impressive considering the fact that the global maritime trade is showing a steady increase of 5% annually, putting considerable pressure on ports worldwide to improve ship turn-around times and to increase their cargo handling capacities. That's why the

National Ports Authority of South Africa is spending more than R4 billion over the next few years, to upgrade its seven commercial ports - creating a world-class service that not only ensures efficient facilities and equipment to port operators and users, but maintains South Africa's position in the international maritime trading league.

National Ports

Authority 7 of South Africa

A DIVISION OF TRANSNET LIMITED

The world is closer than you think. www.npa.co.za

BLUEPRINT NPA200370

February 2004 Circle 248 on Reader Service Card 11