Randy Belote News

In the fall of 1999, American Classic Voyages (AMCV) announced plans to almost singlehandedly revive the business of building cruise ships in the United States. Critics claimed it couldn’t be done, but the ships steadily took shape on the building ways in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Two years, a sour economy and horrific terrorist attacks later, the dream of building cruise ships in the U.S. is seemingly dead, as AMCV filed for Chapter 11 and the Maritime Administration is unwilling, at press time, to fund the ships further. While the cruise industry was hurting prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, the industry has been put into a seemingly perpetual tailspin as economic woes and fear of travel have conspired to leave ships far from full capacity.

(Reuters) - The Pentagon on Wednesday rejected for now a Navy plan under which Northrop Grumman Corp. and General Dynamics Corp. would compete for, rather than split, a potential $20 billion contract to build a new class of guided missile destroyer. The action dovetails with moves in Congress aimed at blocking a winner-take-all approach, which the Navy has said could trim $300 million from the cost of each DD(X) destroyer. Any change to the existing production-sharing strategy "is premature at this time," Michael Wynne, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer, said in a Defense Department statement. Wynne authorized the Navy to seek additional input from Los Angeles-based Northrop and Falls Church, Virginia-based General Dynamics on any future change in acquisition strategy.

The U.S. Defense Department wants more data from rivals for the $2.1 billion takeover of Newport News Shipbuilding Inc. and may still be weeks or months away from recommending which offer if either to allow, a top Pentagon official said on Wednesday. General Dynamics Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. said last week that they had agreed with the departments of defense and justice to delay any effort to close their competing bids until at least August 20. Under U.S. anti-trust law, the Justice Department has 10 business days to reach a final decision on a proposed all-cash acquisition after the would-be acquirer turns over all merger-related information sought by regulators.

In an effort to utilize the now defunct U.S. Lines cruise ships, Congress has recommended that the U.S. Navy purchase the vessels, for possible use as replacement Joint Command Ships. The two 1,900-passenger vessels, which were to have been delivered in 2003, at a price of $440 million each, were on their way to becoming “an American dream.” With the first vessel approximately 55 percent complete, the second vessel was about to have its keel laid. And according to Northrop Grumman Litton Ingalls, the company who was to build these ships, more than 90 percent of material had already been committed. An added blow occurred a few days after AMCV had filed bankruptcy…