Maritime News Headlines

December 2002

Steel from the WTC may be used in the stem bar of USS New York (LPD 21) (12/28)

Bath and Ingalls get their FY03 option DDGs (12/27)

Sale of FGO approved: new company to be called Signal International, not ACON Offshore: closing set for 1/9 (12/20)

US Rep. David Vitter calls for $50mm for Title XI (12/19)

VT Halter Marine gets first option ship on its US Army contract (12/18)

DDG 96 will be named Bainbridge, commemorating the U.S. Navy's first destroyer, built by Neafie & Levy in Philly in 1902 (12/18)

Carlyle Group buys 80% of CSX Lines for $300mm, renames it Horizon Lines (12/18)

Continued consolidation as Kirby buys Union Carbide's barge fleet (12/17)

GD gets second tranche of SSGN contract money (12/16)

Bollinger to build 13 more CPBs (12/13)

Noble Drilling buys two jack-ups from Schlumberger for $95mm (12/13)

USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60) collides with Iranian OSV (12/7)

CVN 77 to be named USS George H. W. Bush (12/7)

District Court reduces punitive damages for Exxon Valdez disaster from $5 to $4 billion (12/7)

Bollinger to build a new $50mm shipyard: site not yet selected (12/7)

Edison Chouest reported to be in deal to buy Alabama Shipyard (12/6)

The Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Mass., once one of the world's great shipbuilders, will be sold at auction "in bulk and piecemeal" on January 16, 2003 (12/5)

Torch places the Midnight Express conversion with Davie at $37mm: subsidized shipbuilding is apparently alive and well in Quebec (12/4)

US Navy to be sued by Norwegian owner of LNG carrier rammed by nuclear sub: sub's captain relieved of his duties (12/3)

MARAD backs off from its proposed waiver of the 3-year waiting rule for the eligibility of foreign-built tankers to carry preference cargoes (12/3)

November 2002

French Groupe Bourbon confirms that it is financing Jones Act PSV construction (11/30)

Congressman Gene Taylor criticizes Nabors Industries for reincorporating in Bermuda and ExxonMobil for seeking Jones Act waivers (11/22)

Rumors that Bender Shipbuilding has closed its deal with Rigdon Offshore are confirmed by reliable sources: contract for 10 PSVs was signed on 11/15 (11/19)

FGO sold to ACON Offshore Partners for $61mm (11/19)

Maritime Tptn. Security Act provides Jones Act waivers for up to 3 foreign-built tankers: language rumored to have been suggested by ExxonMobil (11/17)

LNG carrier Norman Lady hit by nuclear-powered submarine Oklahoma City (11/15)

Conrad to build 181-foot, 149-passenger 18-car ferry for Alaska Marine Highway System (11/13)

VT Halter Marine signs contract with an undisclosed U.S. operator for 1+6 PSVs (11/11)

Government of Quebec to bail out bankrupt Davie Shipbuilding yet again: this must be about the tenth time: will they never learn? (11/8)

FGH ups the ante, changes the rules and rejects all offers for FGO: what next, back to a reorg proposal? (11/6)

Bender to build a PSV for a Mexican owner, to a design from Kvaerner Masa Marine (11/5)

WorldCom buys Bernie Ebbers' 51% interest in megayacht and minesweeper builder Intermarine Savannah (11/1)