Hvide Christens Fourth Lightship Tanker

Hvide Marine Inc. christened HMI Ambrose Channel, the first all-new petro-chemical carrier built in the U.S. in nearly two decades and the fourth in a series of five double-hull lightship tankers being built for Hvide by Newport News Shipbuilding under the Double Eagle program. The christening ceremony took place at Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va. Named after the USCG lightship which formerly stood watch at the entrance to New York Harbor, HMI Ambrose Channel is jointly owned by wholly owned subsidiaries of Hvide and Newport News. She will be operated by Hvide Marine and marketed through Hvide's Ocean Specialty Tankers Corporation subsidiary in Houston. Unlike her three predecessors, which are crude oil and petroleum product carriers, HMI Ambrose Channel is a certified IMO Type III Chemical Carrier capable of carrying a wide variety of chemical products in 14 specially coated tanks. A fifth and final tanker of the Double Eagle class, HMI Brenton Reef, will be delivered in mid-1999 and will also be a Type III Chemical Carrier. Under the terms of the OPA 90, all single-hull petroleum tank vessels must be phased out by 2015. Hvide Marine currently operates a fleet of five chemical and six petroleum product carriers in the Jones Act trade, three of which are double-hulled and thus have no retirement date under OPA 90. These vessels transit U.S. coastal waters and deliver products such as caustic soda, phosphoric acid, gasoline and jet fuel to ports along the Gulf, Atlantic and Pacific Coasts.