Keel Laid for Crowley’s 2nd LNG-Powered Ship

The keel for the second Commitment Class liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered, combination container – Roll-On/Roll-Off (ConRo) ship for Crowley Maritime Corp.’s liner services group was laid on Monday, August 24th during a ceremony at ship-builder VT Halter Marine, Inc.’s facility in Pascagoula, Miss.

Crowley’s two Commitment Class ships will exclusively serve the U.S.-Puerto Rico trade lane.

“The keel laying marks the ceremonial beginning of the construction and formation of the backbone of a ship,” said Crowley’s Todd Busch, senior vice president and general manager, technical services.

“Today’s event symbolizes how far we’ve come in delivering on our commitments to our customers in Puerto Rico. We are very excited to continue the construction process for these technically advanced ships.”

VT Halter Marine and Crowley entered into a contract for the pair of Jones Act ships in November 2013 and construction of the second ship began with steel cutting in Pascagoula on May 27, 2015. With the first section set in place, the ship will now begin to take shape as it is built around the keel.

The first ship’s keel laying took place in January 2015.

The Commitment Class ships have been designed to maximize the carriage of 53-foot, 102-inch-wide containers, which offer the most cubic cargo capacity in the trade. The ships will be 219.5 meters long, 32.3 meters wide (beam), have a deep draft of 10 meters, and an approximate deadweight capacity of 26,500 metric tons.

Cargo capacity will be approximately 2,400 TEUs (20-foot-equivalent-units), with additional space for nearly 400 vehicles in an enclosed Roll-on/Roll-off garage. The main propulsion and auxiliary engines will be fueled by environmentally friendly LNG.

The Commitment Class, Jones Act ships will replace Crowley’s towed triple-deck barge fleet in the South Atlantic trade, which has served the trade continuously since the early 1970s.

These new ships will be named El Coquí(ko-kee) and Taíno(tahy-noh), and are scheduled for delivery during the second and fourth quarter 2017 respectively.

The ship design is provided by Wartsila Ship Design in conjunction with Crowley subsidiary Jensen Maritime.