THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 1, 1995 TAG: 9506010539
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
In its latest effort to generate orders for commercial ships, Newport News Shipbuilding will use $7.85 million in federal funds to design a liquified-natural-gas tanker.
The Newport News shipyard, the largest privately owned yard in the country, said Wednesday its tanker-design project was chosen by the Defense Department as part of a federal program to improve the competitiveness of American shipbuilding.
Newport News Shipbuilding received $3 million from the same program last year to design a 46,000-ton petroleum tanker.
The yard said it is participating in the tanker-design project with two other companies, including a major Japanese shipbuilder. The Japanese company, Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, has developed technology for containing liquified natural gas. The third participant is SeaRiver Maritime Inc.
LNG tankers are more complicated than tankers for crude oil or refined-petroleum products because they must keep their cargo at super-cold temperatures.
Newport News Shipbuilding built three LNG tankers in the late 1970s. But the yard concentrated on construction of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines for the Navy during the 1980s. To make up for the decline in Navy ship construction, the yard in recent years has sought to attract orders for commercial ships, including tankers.
Last October, Newport News Shipbuilding received an order from a Greek shipping company to build as many as four double-hulled petroleum tankers. In March, it signed a letter of intent to build two tankers for an American shipping concern and received an option to build four others. by CNB