ruben.maritime

BOSTON 21 December – Even as the governor of Massachusetts signed off on two new offshore LNG terminals, one of the facilities’ owners pledged to hire US merchant mariners to operate its tankers – and the platform. On Tuesday, Gov Mitt Romney approved construction of the Northeast Gateway and Neptune terminals, which will be built 11km and 21km respectively off Gloucester, Mass. With the Republican governor’s approval, the only remaining hurdle is approval by the US Maritime Administration, and MarAd boss Sean Connaughton said yesterday that a decision can be expected by the end of February. During the conference call when Connaughton announced the timeline, he and representatives of Suez LNG – developer of the Neptune project – revealed that Suez will seek to hire US seafarers and graduating cadets from American maritime academies to staff the tankers that will call at the platform. “Our company works everyday to be a pacesetter within the LNG industry,” said Joseph McKechnie, senior vice-president of shipping for Suez LNG. His company is working closely with the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and the US Merchant Marine Academy in training cadets to work aboard LNG tankers and platforms, he said. Suez currently owns four tankers and has three on charter, and the fleet is projected to grow by 15% to 20% annually McKechnie said.

 

Etiquetas: international maritime affairs, LNG, shipping business

This entry was posted on jueves, diciembre 21, 2006 at 4:49 p. m.. You can skip to the end and leave a response.