Aker Philadelphia Shipyard sees reprieve in coastal box ship deal

AKER Philadelphia Shipyard sees a reprieve from shutdown in an agreement to build containerships to serve on a projected east coast-Gulf coast hub-and-spoke feeder service, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.

But the stricken shipyard must contrive to stay in business until the containership construction project begins in 2012. Aker vice president Scott Clapham said the yard had just launched the 10th tanker in a series of 12 and will complete the last one in 2011, but has no new orders after that and has recently laid off 47 workers out of 1,000-strong workforce.

Aker is one of two US shipyards - the other is in Green Bay, Wisconsin - that have agreements with American Feeder Lines Holdings to build five ships each, and perhaps as many as 50 over time.

The shipyard has signed a "letter of intent" with a New York firm to build five containerships that would be part cabotage route from Maine to Texas, billed as a way to move cargo efficiently and get it off roads and railways.

American Feeder Lines also must raise US$750 million in debt and equity financing, which it is seeking from hedge and investment funds. The firm wants to own and operate the nation's first "short sea" feeder container service, based on a business model in Europe, Asia, and South America. American Feeder Lines hopes to secure part of a $160 billion US infrastructure investment Tiger 2 grant for what is being marketed as "the marine highway".

"Aker is the best shipyard you have in the United States from the layout and the production line," said American Feeder CEO Tobias Koenig. "It's just that we have to have their funding secured for the future, as well as ours, and then we get going."

Cargo is expected to increase in 2014, when the Panama Canal is expanded and mega-ships from Asia arrive directly at the east and Gulf coasts.
(Source:www.schednet.com)