Three days ago, on August 29th, General Dynamics NASSCO’s second vessel in a series consisting of the first natural gas powered container carries in the world was successfully launched. The ship’s christening and respective launch ceremony were carried out at the San Diego shipyard of the company. The Perla del Caribe was constructed for the purposes of the leading transportation and logistics company, TOTE.
The all new Marlin Class vessels, that are to be built by NASSCO, have the length of two and a half football fields. They are going to be appointed for transporting cargo between various U.S.-ownedports. The vessels are going to contribute for reducing particulate matter by 98% and carbon dioxide emission levels by 72%, the equivalent of 15,700 cars being removed from the road, thus making them the world’s cleanest container carriers.
Along the lines of the ceremony, Ms. Emma Engle, the sponsor of the ship and a third-generation Saltchuk (parent company of TOTE) shareholder, christened the vessel by traditionally breaking a bottle of champagne over its hull. Alcinda Buirds, a 32-year-old employee of NASSCO, was responsible for pulling the trigger for releasing the vessel into the San Diego Bay.
“NASSCO’s shipbuilders regard a launch as a signal for the near completion of a ship’s construction; it marks the very first time of a ship entering the ocean. It is quite a proud moment for the thousands of people involved in its building – single piece by single piece, one block at a time. The Perla del Caribe is no exception and when she is delivered we are going to proudly say, ”We constructed that,”commented Kevin Graney, General Dynamics NASSCO vice president and general manager.
Along the lines of the two-ship contract that was reached back in December of 2012 with TOTE, the Marlin class container carriers with a length of 764 feet are to be the biggest dry cargo vessels of their respective kind that will be powered via the use of LNG. This cutting-edge eco-friendly vessel technology, designed by the company and its associates, is going to greatly contribute for decreasing emission levels while at the same time manages to increase fuel efficiency.
When the first of the Jones Act-qualified vessels is successfully delivered in the latter part of this year, it is to be appointed for operation between Florida’s Jacksonville and Puerto Rico’s San Juan.
NASSCO boasts quite the extensive resume when regarding commercial shipbuilding. During the course of the past decade, the company accounted for delivering eleven commercial vessels and has orders for another ten commercial vessels, including two Marin Class container carriers ordered by TOTE. During the time, NASSCO also managed to deliver 17 vessels to the United States Navy, including the all new and innovative mobile landing platforms.
When it comes to its commercial work, NASSCO partners up with the South Korea–based Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) shipbuilding giant for accessing cutting-edge vessel design and construction technologies.
NASSCO serves as the sole major shipyard on the United States’ whole West Coast performing design, new building and repair procedures of commercial and U.S. Navy vessels.