Crowley Alaska Tankers, LLC, announced on 18 April 2018 that it has completed the acquisition of three tankers from SeaRiver Maritime Inc., and is now chartering them back to SeaRiver under varying multi-year terms.
The tankers Liberty Bay and Eagle Bay, now under Crowley ownership and operation, each have a capacity of 760,000 barrels and transport crude from Alaska to West Coast refineries.
The tanker SR American Progress has a capacity of 342,000 barrels and transports refined petroleum between the U.S. Gulf and East Coast ports.
Crowley has renamed the ships. Liberty Bay is now Washington. Eagle Bay is California, and SR American Progress is Oregon.
“With the regulatory approvals in place and the sale officially complete, we are now focused on operating these tankers in the safest, most reliable manner possible,” said Tom Crowley, chairman and CEO of Crowley Maritime Corp.
“Our knowledge, passion, talent, ingenuity and helpfulness drive business for the company and provide the basis for highly successful partnerships such as the one announced today.”
Crowley operates and manages the largest U.S.-flag petroleum and chemical tank vessel fleet in the country.
With the acquisition of these three tankers, the company now operates 40 Jones Act-qualified large petroleum transportation vessels in the United States with a combined capacity of more than 12 million barrels.
Among this tank vessel fleet is a tanker and an articulated tug-barge (ATB) already on charter to SeaRiver.
Crowley has been operating in Alaska since 1953, six years before statehood, providing upstream energy support services, tanker assistance and escort services with tugboats, and petroleum transportation, distribution and sales throughout the state.
In addition to the company’s own ATBs operating in Alaska, Crowley currently manages and crews tankers carrying petroleum between Alaska and US West Coast refineries.
Crowley owns and/or operates a diverse, sophisticated fleet of double-hull tank vessels, including 17 ATBs and now 23 tankers, all built since 2002.
