The US Maritime Administration (MARAD) has added two ro-ro vessels and a product tanker to national security programmes to ensure US-flag merchant ships are available during armed conflict and national emergencies.
The new additions to the subsidy programmes also revealed the buyer of a tanker sold by Pyxis Tankers in September.
MARAD has chosen Liberty Global Logistics’ US-flag, 6,350-lane-metre ro-ro Liberty Power (built 2011) and the Malta-flag, 7,934-ceu large car/truck carrier Tulane (built 2012), which is controlled by American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier (ARC) for the Maritime Security Program.
The Tulane, which is currently in the fleet of ARC parent Wallenius Wilhelmsen, is set to reflag under the US registry by the end of 2023 and will be renamed the Arc Honor, MARAD said.
Liberty Global is based in Lake Success, New York, while ARC is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
The two vessels bring the programme to its full enrollment of 60 merchant vessels.
MARAD has also selected the 50,300-dwt Pyxis Epsilon (built 2015) to bring its Tanker Security Program to a full complement of 10 tankers.
The ship has emerged in the fleet of Norfolk, Virginia-based US Marine Management, the US-flag tanker outfit that AP Moller-Maersk recently sold to New Orleans vessel leasing giant Maritime Partners.
TradeWinds has reported that New York-listed Pyxis Tankers had sold the ship to a US buyer for nearly $40.8m and that the ship’s high price was associated with a military contract.
The Pyxis Epsilon, which is nearing the end of a one-year charter with trading giant Trafigura, will be reflagged from the Marshall Islands to the US by the end of this year.
It will be renamed Shenandoah Trader, MARAD said.
“In peacetime, our US-flagged commercial fleet serves as a critical link in our supply chain; and in times of war and crisis, it supports military missions around the globe,” said Pete Buttigieg, US transportation secretary, in a statement.
“In the years ahead, these vessels will deliver vital goods, strengthen both our economy and our national security, and create good jobs for American mariners.”
The Maritime Security Program was established in 1996 to retain certain merchant ships for use during conflict, while the Tanker Security Program was founded in 2021 to supply and store petroleum refined products, MARAD said.
“MSP [Maritime Security Program] and TSP [Tanker Security Program] accomplish two key maritime sealift objectives: both grow our US-flagged commercial fleet to benefit the US economy, and both sustain our ability to deliver vital supplies to support military missions across the globe,” MARAD administrator Ann Phillips said in a statement.
“The award of these three final operating agreements will ensure the programmes’ continued success and value to the United States.”
