NASSCO Awarded SeaRiver Deal

National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics, announced that it had reached an agreement with SeaRiver Maritime, Inc. (SeaRiver) of Houston, Texas, to develop a contract design for a 750,000-barrel capacity, double-hull crude oil tanker. Included with the contract design package will be NASSCO’s price and delivery proposal for the detail design and construction of a minimum of two vessels. The SeaRiver tankers will be designed primarily for the movement of crude oil from Alaska to West Coat refineries. "We are very pleased to have this opportunity to work with SeaRiver on the design of a new double-hull tanker," said Richard Vortmann, president of NASSCO. "This project continues NASSCO’s long history of commercial tanker construction." Work on the contract design will begin immediately and will be delivered by September 2003. Subject to SeaRiver’s acceptance of NASSCO’s proposed price and delivery schedule, the agreement is expected to lead to a detail design and construction contract by the end of 2003.