NASSCO Christens Jones Act Tanker ‘Liberty’

The MT Liberty was christened during a ceremony at General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego, California, December 17, 2016. Photo: NASSCO

San Diego shipbuilder General Dynamics NASSCO on Saturday christened the third ECO-class Jones Act tanker under contract with customer SEA-Vista, LLC.

The 610-foot-long, 50,000 deadweight ton, LNG-conversion-ready MT Liberty is designed for improved fuel efficiency, with a design that is said to achieve 33 percent increased fuel efficiency through features such as the G-series MAN ME slow-speed main engine and optimized hull form.

Liberty is being built as part of an eight Jones Act-compliant tanker program NASSCO has with two separate clients. The first two ECO class tankers for SEA-Vista, the Independence and the Constitution, were delivered in April and November of this year, respectively.

The five other ECO-class tankers are being built for American Petroleum Tankers. The four ship in that series was delivered in September.

SEA-VISTA is a partnership between SEACOR Holdings Inc. and Avista Capital Partners.

NASSCO says in 2016 its shipbuilders processed more than 60,000 tons of steel and delivered a record of six ships, including the first two ECO Class tankers for SEA-Vista LLC.

For its commercial work, NASSCO partners with South Korean shipbuilder, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), for access to state-of-the-art ship design and shipbuilding technologies.

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