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US shipyard enjoys new lease of life

Shale boom and Jones Act save historic Philadelphia Navy Yard

Published Thu, May 29, 2014 · 10:00 PM
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[NEW YORK] The shale boom and the Jones Act are saving shipbuilding at the 213-year-old Philadelphia Navy Yard.

On a part of the grounds now operated by Aker ASA, workers apply a coat of gray paint to the deck of a new 800,000-barrel oil tanker in one dock. The hull of another tanker sits in the adjacent berth. Blue sparks fly from welding torches in the warehouse-sized shop where workers assemble sections known as grand blocks. Blue-green sheets of steel that will make up the skeleton of future ships are piled throughout the yard.

"Less than three years ago, you would have seen an empty dock, empty building dock, no grand blocks lying around and practically empty production halls," Kristian Rokke, the shipyard's executive chairman, said during an April 25 oil tanker christening ceremony at the shipyard. "Many were starting to say that we might not make it."

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