Keystone Shipping News

New Orleans-based Maritime Partners has reached a deal to acquire AMSC subsidiary American Tanker Holding Company, which owns a fleet of 10 Jones Act tankers.Maritime Partners' newly formed Project Merchant Acquisition arm signed a share purchase agreement with Oslo-listed AMSC to acquire AHTC for an enterprise value of $746.7 million. AMSC will receive $249.3 million in gross cash proceeds from the sale.The transaction is expected to close on or before October 31, 2023, subject to certain closing conditions and AMSC shareholder approval.ATHC…

American Shipping Company ASA (AMSC), A Norwegian-based ship finance company focused on the intercoastal U.S. Jones Act shipping market, announced it has entered into bareboat charters for two of its vessels commencing in December 2022 with U.S. tanker operator Keystone Shipping Co.The bareboat charters have minimum terms of three years which may be extended at the charterer’s options. The charters are secured by back-to-back time charters of the same duration between Keystone and a major U.S. based oil and refinery group.AMSC said the new charters add almost $60 million to its existing charter backlog, excluding any proceeds from the profit share component of the charters.AMSC CEO Pål Lothe Magnussen said…

“30 by 30” is the rallying cry for all concerned with the burgeoning U.S. offshore wind business. In Spring 2021, the Secretaries of Energy, Interior and Commerce resolved to deploy 30 gigawatts (GW) of electricity generated from offshore turbines by 2030. Consultants McKinsey, in a recent article frame the value proposition for this clean fuel source, writing: “During the industry’s 30-year evolution, costs have fallen so sharply that offshore wind now compares favorably with competing energy sources.” For vessel owners, renewable energy brings opportunity.The thrust of near-term U.S.

Harry Diamond, Vice President and Chief Claims Officer at WQIS, is celebrating 21 years with the company this year. Diamond is a graduate of LaSalle University with Bachelor of Arts degrees in social studies education and history; he also holds an Associate degree in Risk Management. He began his insurance career right out of college when he was hired by a brokerage firm whose main client was Keystone Shipping Company. Diamond continued with the firm for four years until he changed his career path because of “an itch that needed to be scratched” – his desire to be a teacher. For the next six years, Diamond taught eighth grade at St. Mary’s Interparochial School in the Society Hill area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced that DOT has awarded contracts with a total award value of $1.96 billion over eight years to seven U.S. maritime firms to manage, maintain and operate 48 National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) vessels through January 2024. These Maritime Administration contracts are funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) National Defense Sealift Fund to support DoD’s strategic sealift mission. “Since 1946, National Defense Reserve Fleet vessels have facilitated U.S. strategic sealift, natural disaster response, and humanitarian operations all around the world,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

The MV Cape Ray, a Keystone-managed Ready Reserve Force containership that worked in the Mediterranean Sea for the U.S. Government neutralizing chemical material from Syria, will receive a special recognition on November 7 at the United Seamen's Service Admiral of the Ocean Sea (USS AOTOS) event. Military and civilian specialists spent some 10 months completing the mission of neutralizing more than 600 tons or 80 percent of Syria's stockpile. The effluents were then dropped off at Finland and Germany for final disposal.

As I write, the M/V  Cape Ray, a 648-foot roll-on/roll-off Ready Reserve Force ship is steaming under orders towards Gioia Tauro, Italy, to load hundreds of tons of Syrian Government chemical weapon agents and precursor chemicals, before neutralizing them at sea. With innovative safe-destruction technology welded to its decks, the  Cape Ray is the United States’ key contribution to the joint Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) / United Nations international effort to eliminate the Syrian stockpile of chemical weapons…

Dr. Arthur H. Sulzer, Captain USN (Ret), Sworn in as Member, Advisory Board of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. Dr. Dr. Arthur H. Sulzer, Captain USN (ret), is President of Arthur H. Sulzer Associates, Inc., a position he has held since 2001. From 1974 to 2005, Captain Sulzer served in the United States Navy. His active duty assignments included Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, where he commanded the U.S. Naval Ship COMET. In 2003, Captain Sulzer joined several colleagues from Philadelphia to open Maritime Academy Charter High School.

The U.S. Senate confirmed William J. Mielke and Arthur H. Sulzer as members of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation Advisory Board on January 1. William J. Mielke is Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of Ruekert/Mielke, a consulting engineering company located in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. He has been a Director of Bank Mutual Corporation since 2000 and its subsidiary, Bank Mutual, since 1988. Mielke is also a Fellow of the American Consulting Engineers Council and has served as a diplomat of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers. From 2006 to 2007, he was a member of the Special Committee on the Great Lakes Water Resources Compact.

President Barack Obama ha announced his intent to nominate Captain Arthur H. Sulzer, USN (ret) as a Member, Advisory Board of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. Captain Arthur H. Sulzer, USN (ret), is President of Arthur H. Sulzer Associates, Inc., a position he has held since 2001. From 1974 to 2005, Captain Sulzer served in the United States Navy. His active duty assignments included Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, where he commanded the U.S. Naval Ship Comet.

Five separate episodes of heroism and bravery on the high seas were recognized at the 42nd annual United Seamen's Service Admiral of the Ocean Sea (AOTOS) dinner. The AOTOS event itself honored James L. Henry, Chairman and President of the Transportation Institute; General Duncan J. McNabb, USAF, former Commander, U.S. Transportation Command; and Robert D. Somerville, Chairman of ABS (formerly the American Bureau of Shipping). The maritime industry's most prestigious awards since…

TTS Marine AB received a contract to fabricate a new slewing stern ramp and weathertight stern door for the third Cape R ship owned by the U.S. Maritime Administration. The contract, signed with ship manager Keystone Shipping Services for the Cape Ray, follows the successful conversion of the sister ship Cape Rise and the Cape Race where the conversion work will start during the fall of this year at North Florida Shipyard with assistance from TTS Marine Inc. The new slewing ramp and stern door are part of a conversion that includes replacing the existing straight stern ramp/door, hydraulic system and controls. The ramp, approximately 50m long…

TTS Marine AB received a contract to fabricate a new slewing stern ramp and weathertight stern door for the third “Cape R” ship owned by the U.S. Maritime Administration. The contract, signed with ship manager Keystone Shipping Services for the Cape Ray, follows the successful conversion of the sister ships Cape Rise and Cape Race, where the conversion work will start during the fall of this year at North Florida Shipyard with assistance from TTS Marine Inc. The new slewing ramp and stern door are part of a conversion that includes replacing the existing straight stern ramp/door, hydraulic system and controls. The ramp, approximately 50m long, may be slewed both to port and starboard, or deployed straight astern, and is designed to allow the simultaneous loading of two M1A1 tanks.

HPI, LLC, a supplier of turbine control solutions and turnkey power plants, announced a project award to install a Propulsion Control System (PCS) aboard the USNS Roy Wheat. HPI was contracted by Keystone Shipping a ship management company for the US Navy. The USNS Roy Wheat is one of the Military Sealift Command's thirteen Container & Roll-on/Roll-off Ships and is part of the 32 ships in Military Sealift Command's Prepositioning Program. HPI is working closely with the Military Sealift Command towards developing a replacement propulsion machinery control and monitoring system based on the latest generation of ABS Approved Commercial Off the Shelf PLC’s and other automation components.

The Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute (GLMRI) has been awarded a $750,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 Midwest Clean Diesel Initiative Grant to help reduce air emissions from a 1,000-ft Great Lakes ore carrier. Dr. Richard Stewart, GLMRI co-director, said the grant enables Key Lakes I, Inc., a Great Lakes vessel operator to repower the M/V Edwin H. Gott during the year-long project. The main engine installation will take place at Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, concurrent with the vessel’s winter layup and drydocking. GLMRI and Key Lakes I, Inc., are partners in the project that will significantly reduce the air emissions for the M/V Edwin H.

The United Seamen’s Service (USS) 2009 40th Annual Admiral of the Ocean Sea Awards (AOTOS) were presented to Donald Kurz, President and CEO of Keystone Shipping Co., headquartered in Philadelphia, and to Ronald Widdows, Group President and CEO of Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) of Singapore, parent company of American President Lines (APL). A Special AOTOS Award was also presented to The United States Coast Guard. The maritime industry’s most prestigious honors were awarded at a gala industry dinner and dance held at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers, New York City, on November 13, 2009.

The officers and crew of the Maersk Alabama, who fought off a pirate attack earlier this year, will be represented by Captain Richard Phillips, Chief Engineer; Michael Perry, and Bosun William Rios in accepting an Honored Seafarers plaque at the 40th annual United Seamen's Service (USS) Admiral of the Ocean Sea dinner on November 13, 2009. "We are pleased that all three unions aboard the ship will be represented by the vessel department heads at this signature maritime event," said Edward R. Morgan, USS President. The unions are the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots, Marine Engineers Beneficial Association and the Seafarers International Union of North America.

The officers and crews of five American ships and a seafarer who extinguished a fire on a vessel will be honored for heroism by United Seamen's Service at the 40th annual Admiral of the Ocean Sea dinner on November 13, 2009. The AOTOS honors this year will go to Donald Kurz of Keystone Shipping Co., Ron Widdows of Neptune Orient Lines and the United States Coast Guard, which will receive a special award. The Honored Seafarer awards will go to the officers and crew of the Maersk Alabama, who fought off a pirate attack while maintaining control of the ship 350 miles off the coast of Somalia and whose captain was taken hostage, April 8-13, 2009.

When Texaco, now represented in the marine lubricants market by FAMM (Fuel and Marine Marketing), launched Taro 40 XL 40, the lubricant was designed to address pressing field problems in medium speed engines. Three years later FAMM is in a position to evaluate the performance in a large number of engines and to compare the field results with competitive lubricants. The pressing problems arose from a series of engine design and fuel processing changes. Although aimed at improving engine efficiency and making savings, the changes resulted in a series of difficulties. The best known are engine blackening, undercrown deposits, piston head corrosion, fouling of purifier heaters, increased oil consumption, base number depletion, oil scraper ring clogging and increased piston deposits.

While the U.S. commercial shipbuilding industry outperformed the U.S. economy between 1992 and 2001, this period witnessed the construction of barely a dozen large ocean going vessels for our U.S. domestic trades with an aggregate cost of not much more than $500 million. In contrast, U. S. national transportation needs for the current decade will require the construction of four to five dozen such commercial vessels which, taken together with the building of smaller vessels to meet our other domestic needs, will involve shipbuilding contracts in excess of $6 to $7 billion. The majority of this work is federally mandated by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, or involves the replacement of vessels in our U.S. non-contiguous trades that have reached the end of their useful lives.

The Ship Operations Cooperative Program (SOCP) will convene in Philadelphia, Pa., on June 11-12, 2002 at the Naval Surface Warfare Center. The meeting will feature Captain William G. Schubert, Maritime Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation as the speaker, with invited speakers including: Ronald McAlear, CEO, Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard and Robert K. Kurz, President, Keystone Shipping Co. The meeting will also include panel presentations focusing on maritime security and current maritime legislation, and technical presentations.

MITAGS will host the national conference, “Maritime Careers: Implementing the Action Plans for Recruiting and Retaining Mariners” at Linthicum Heights Campus on May 1-2, 2002. Glen Paine, executive director, Maritime Institute of Technology & Graduate Studies (MITAGS) and Pacific Maritime Institute (PMI), Seattle, Wash., announced that MITAGS would host a national conference for national consensus on mariner recruitment and retention at its Linthicum Heights campus on May 1 and May 2, 2002. The American Merchant Marine has been impacted by a critical loss of professional mariners in recent years. The aim of this conference is to build a national consensus and plan that will project a positive image of mariners and create an appreciative awareness of the maritime industry.

The United Seamen's Service (USS) 2009 40th Annual Admiral of the Ocean Sea Awards (AOTOS) will be presented to Donald Kurz, President and CEO of Keystone Shipping Co., headquartered in Philadelphia, and to Ronald Widdows, Group President and CEO of NOL (Neptune Orient Lines) of Singapore, parent company of American President Lines (APL). A Special AOTOS Award will also be presented to the United States Coast Guard. The maritime industry's most prestigious honors will be awarded at a gala industry dinner and dance to be held at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers, New York City, on November 13, 2009. Richard Hughes, Chairman of the USS AOTOS Committee and President of the International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO, made the announcement on the occasion of the USS Annual meeting.