Construction of Crowley Maritime Corporation’s first of two liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered, Roll-On/Roll-Off (ConRo) ships recently reached another important milestone, with the installation of three double-walled stainless steel LNG fuel tanks. They are each 110 feet in length and 20.6 feet in diameter, weighing 225 metric tons They have the capacity of holding more than enough LNG fuel for two round-trip voyages between the vessel’s future ports of call, Jacksonville, Florida and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
“While we are all excitedly watching these ships take shape, we are particularly proud of the role we, as a company, are playing to bring the most modern, technologically advanced and environmentally friendly ConRo ships in the world to the Jones Act market of Puerto Rico,” said Tom Crowley, company chairman and CEO. “There are no other ships of their kind being built anywhere else in the world today, and they are being constructed right here at home – in the United States of America. Having that shipbuilding capability here is essential to our national defence and an important reason we as a country need the Jones Act to be maintained and strengthened.”
The Jones Act is a federal statute that provides for the promotion and maintenance of a strong American merchant marine. It requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flag ships constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents.