NASSCO and BP Hold Naming Ceremony for the Alaskan Explorer.SAN DIEGO -- National Steel and Shipbuilding Company National Steel and Shipbuilding Company or simply NASSCO is a shipyard in San Diego, California, and a division of General Dynamics. The yard specializes in constructing commercial cargo ships and auxiliary vessels for the US Navy and Military Sealift Command, which it has (NASSCO NASSCO National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (General Dynamics) NASSCO National Association of Sewer Service Companies (Baltimore, MD) , www.nassco.com), a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of General Dynamics (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :GD), has joined BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) in naming the Alaskan Explorer, the second of four Alaska-class double-hull oil tankers being built for BP Oil Shipping Company, USA. Maureen Hayward, spouse of Tony Hayward, Group Chief Executive of Exploration and Production for BP, was the ship's sponsor, officially naming the Alaskan Explorer and striking a ceremonial bottle of champagne across the ship's hull. Sharon Marshall, spouse of Steve Marshall, President of BP Exploration (Alaska), was her Matron of Honor matron of honor n. pl. matrons of honor A married woman serving as chief attendant of the bride at a wedding. Noun 1. . Bob Malone, Chief Executive of BP Shipping, Ltd., was the keynote speaker at the event. Dick Vortmann, President of NASSCO, also spoke. The four BP ships are being constructed sequentially in NASSCO's 1,000-foot graving dock. The first ship, the Alaskan Frontier, was delivered to BP Shipping in August. It has completed five trips between Alaska and the West Coast, delivering 5.5 million barrels of Alaska North Slope Alaska North Slope or Arctic North Slope, region, N Alaska, sloping from the Brooks Range N to the Arctic Ocean. In 1968 large petroleum reserves were found in the Prudhoe Bay area. (ANS (ANS Communications, Inc, Purchase, NY) An ISP, Internet backbone and provider of private data network services, founded in 1990 as Advanced Network & Services, Inc., by IBM, MCI and Merit (consortium of Michigan universities). ) crude to the West Coast. "The Alaskan Frontier is performing extremely well in its early months of service and is meeting our every expectation for reliability, safety and efficiency," said BP's Malone. "We look forward to the addition of the Alaskan Explorer and her sister ships to continue our mission of safe, environmentally friendly transportation of cargoes to their destinations." The keel laying for the third ship was held in July. Construction on the steel blocks that will become the fourth ship in the class was started in October. The remaining three ships are scheduled to be delivered between now and the end of 2006. The BP project is keeping an estimated 1,000 NASSCO workers employed over the life of the contract. The state-of-the-art double-hull ships have a length of 287 meters (941 feet) and a beam of 50 meters (164 feet). The design of the 1.3-million-barrel-capacity tankers in the Alaska Class will allow maximum flexibility for oil deliveries from Alaska to West Coast ports, including BP refineries in Los Angeles, Calif., and Cherry Point, Wash. The Alaskan Explorer's double hull has been designed for a life of 50 years and the deck structure has a life of 35 years, a robust configuration that will perform at peak efficiency for decades in the rigors of the Gulf of Alaska Noun 1. Gulf of Alaska - a gulf of the Pacific Ocean between the Alaska Peninsula and the Alexander Archipelago Pacific, Pacific Ocean - the largest ocean in the world . The Alaska-class ships are the most environmentally friendly tankers ever built. These ships use seawater instead of oil to cool and lubricate lu·bri·cate v. lu·bri·cat·ed, lu·bri·cat·ing, lu·bri·cates v.tr. 1. To apply a lubricant to. 2. To make slippery or smooth. v.intr. To act as a lubricant. their propeller shafts, thus eliminating accidental oil leaks. Their cargo piping, normally installed on the deck, is inside the cargo tanks, to reduce the risk of small spills. The ships have twin diesel-electric propulsion systems in separate engine rooms, powering two propellers and twin rudders. Diesel-electric propulsion was chosen because it significantly increases reliability and reduces air emissions and maintenance downtime. When completed, the ships will join the largest industry-owned oil and natural gas shipping fleet in the world and will be operated by the Alaska Tanker Company of Portland, Ore., which operates BP-chartered tankers used in the Alaska North Slope trade and is 25% owned by BP. BP is the single, global brand formed by the combination of the former British Petroleum, Amoco Corporation, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and Burmah Castrol. BP is a global producer, manufacturer and marketer of oil, gas, chemicals and renewable energy sources. Every day, BP provides energy solutions to approximately 13 million customers in more than 100 countries. More information about BP is available at www.bp.com. General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia Falls Church is an independent city in Virginia, United States. The population was 10,377 at the 2000 census. This city is a part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. A much larger number of people reside in Greater Falls Church , employs approximately 69,400 people worldwide and anticipates 2004 revenue of $19 billion. The company is a market leader in mission-critical information systems and technologies; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions mu·ni·tion n. War materiel, especially weapons and ammunition. Often used in the plural. tr.v. mu·ni·tioned, mu·ni·tion·ing, mu·ni·tions To supply with munitions. ; shipbuilding and marine systems; and business aviation. More information about the company is available on the Internet at www.generaldynamics.com. |
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