Philly Shipyard, formerly Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, is a commercial

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

located in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on part of the site of the

Philadelphia Naval Shipyard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries. Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the Pennsport section of the cit ...

. The commercial yard began after the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

had ended most of its operations at the site. The yard is a listed company on the

Oslo Stock Exchange Oslo Stock Exchange ( no, Oslo Børs) (OSE: OSLO) is a stock exchange within the Nordic countries and offers Norway’s only regulated markets for securities trading today. The stock exchange offers a full product range including equities, deriv ...

and part of the Aker Group controlled by

Kjell Inge Røkke Kjell Inge Røkke (born 25 October 1958) is a Norwegian billionaire businessman. Røkke launched his business career with the purchase of a trawler in the United States in 1982, and gradually built a leading worldwide fisheries business. In 1 ...

. The yard targets producing ships within the Jones Act for domestic shipping, primarily product tankers and container ships.

History

The yard was started as a cooperation between

Kværner Kværner was a Norwegian engineering and construction services company that existed between 1853 and 2005. In 2004, it was amalgamated to the newly formed subsidiary of Aker ASA - Aker Kværner, which was renamed Aker Solutions on 3 April 2008 ...

and the

City of Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryl ...

and the

Government of the United States The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

. Rebuilt and opened in 2000, the yard delivered its first ship in 2003: MV ''Manukai'', a container cargo ship for

Matson Line Matson, Inc. is an American shipping and navigation services company headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. Founded in 1882, Matson, Inc.'s subsidiary Matson Navigation Company provides ocean shipping services across the Pacific to Hawaii, Alaska, G ...

and the first of four sister vessels built for Matson through 2006. In 2005, control of the yard passed to Aker, which bought the troubled Kværner firm. Aker American Shipping ASA was formed and listed on the Oslo Bors. In 2007, Aker American Shipping was split into two companies - the shipbuilding company, Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, and the ship owning company, Aker American Shipping (today American Shipping Company). In January 2013, the shipyard completed construction of fourteen product tankers for subsidiaries of American Shipping Company (AMSC),

Overseas Shipholding Group Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (OSG - Overseas Shipping Group) () is the operator of a fleet of twenty-four oil tankers and oil tug-barges. It is based in Tampa, Florida, United States, and was founded in 1948. In 1969, under the leadership o ...

(OSG) and Crowley. On September 29, 2011, Aker Philadelphia signed a contract with

SeaRiver Maritime SeaRiver Maritime is a privately held subsidiary wholly owned by ExxonMobil. The company was formed in the early 1990s by Exxon when it spun off its maritime operations into the new company following the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. In 1994 ...

Inc. (the shipping subsidiary of

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

) for the construction of two Aframax oil product tankers for delivery in 2014. At 820 ft. in length and measuring over 115,000 tons deadweight, they will be the largest ships yet built by the yard. On August 14, 2013, Philly.com reported that Aker signed a joint business venture with Crowley Maritime Corp of Jacksonville, Florida, to construct 8 product tankers with an option for 4 additional tankers. The venture was valued at $500 million and is expected to continue work at the yard through 2017. On November 6, 2013, Aker Philadelphia Shipyard announced an agreement to build two container ships, named the Aloha class, for Matson, Inc. On June 10, 2014, the shipyard announced the planned establishment of Philly Tankers, a Jones Act Shipping Company. The shipyard has firm contracts to build two eco-design product tankers and options for two additional new builds. On June 11, 2014, Aker Philadelphia Shipyard has delivered the first of two

aframax An Aframax vessel is an oil tanker with a deadweight between 80,000 and 120,000 metric tonnes. The term is based on the Average Freight Rate Assessment (AFRA), a tanker rate system created in 1954 by Shell Oil to standardize shipping contract ...

tankers to SeaRiver Maritime, Exxon Mobil Corporation's U.S. marine affiliate. This tanker is 820 feet long and designed to transport 800,000 barrels of Alaskan North Slope crude oil from

Prince William Sound Prince William Sound (Sugpiaq: ''Suungaaciq'') is a sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Tr ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

to the

U.S. West Coast The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

. Also, this vessel is equipped with double hull protection, the latest navigation and communications equipment, and an energy-efficient engine. On September 30, 2015, Aker Philadelphia Shipyard delivered the ''Ohio'', the first of four next-generation 50,000 dwt product tankers that it is building for

Crowley Maritime Corporation Crowley, legally Crowley Maritime Corporation, is based in Jacksonville, Florida. Founded in 1892, Crowley is primarily a family- and employee-owned vessel management, owner, and supply chain logistics services company, providing services globall ...

. On October 1, 2015, the shipyard began production activities on two 3,600 TEU "Aloha Class" containerships that it is building for

Matson Navigation Company Matson may refer to: *Matson (surname) *Matson, Gloucester, England, a suburb of Gloucester *Matson, Missouri, an unincorporated community *2586 Matson, an asteroid * Matson, Inc., a shipping company, formerly Matson Navigation Company *Matson Film ...

.The contracts for the vessels were originally signed in 2013 for a total value of $418 million. On December 1, 2015, at an extraordinary general meeting, shareholders of Aker Philadelphia Shipyard ASA (OSLO: AKPS) approved a proposal to change the company's name to Philly Shipyard ASA. Accordingly, Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, Inc.(APSI), the sole operating subsidiary of AKPS, likewise changed its name to Philly Shipyard. On December 23, 2015, Philly Shipyard completed the construction of the ''Texas'' for Crowley Maritime Corporation. Texas - it's the 22nd vessel built by Philly Shipyard. It's the next generation 50,000 dwt

product tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk cargo, bulk transport of petroleum, oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quant ...

. On April 15, 2016, the shipyard delivered the ''Louisiana''. ''Louisiana'' - joins sister ships ''Ohio'' and ''Texas'', which were received by Crowley in 2015. The 600-foot tanker has a carrying capacity of 14.5 million gallons of crude oil or refined products. In March 2019 the shipyard delivered a container vessel for the Hawaii trade but had no new vessel orders. In July the yard had only a short-term contract for the

refit Refitting or refit of boats and marine vessels includes repairing, fixing, restoring, renewing, mending, and renovating an old vessel. Refitting has become one of the most important activities inside a shipyard. It offers a variety of services for ...

of a Maritime Administration cargo ship. In a report to their investors, they outlined an effort to pursue the repair and building of US government vessels. As of August 2022 the shipyard had three National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMV) under construction.

References

External links

Aker Group website

{{Coord, 39.888301, -75.187844, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-PA, display=title Shipyards of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Philadelphia Companies listed on Oslo Axess Industrial buildings and structures in Pennsylvania