YEAR AT A GLANCE

September 2020
• Chesapeake Shipbuilding delivered the riverboat American Jazz to American Cruise Lines for service on the Mississippi River. The 190-passenger vessel is the third modern riverboat to join American’s fleet, with two more newbuilds on the way.


August 2020
• Irving delivered the first warship completed under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy. Harry DeWolf is the nation’s first Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS). It will be joined by three other DeWolf-class vessels currently under construction by Irving, and two more ships that will be built starting in 2021 and 2022. 


July 2020
• Seaspan launched its third offshore fisheries science vessel (OFSV) for the Canadian Coast Guard. The future CCGS John Cabot is a sister ship to CCGS Sir John Franklin and CCGS Capt. Jacques Cartier, which were both launched in the preceding 13 months.

• General Dynamics NASSCO christened Matsonia, the second of two Kanaloa-class vessels built for Matson Navigation. The Kanaloa-class vessels are the largest combination container/roll-on, roll-off vessels ever built in the United States.


June 2020
• Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding laid the keel on Interlake Steamship Company’s Mark W. Baker. The 639-foot ship, scheduled for completion in 2022, will be the first Great Lakes freighter built in the U.S. in almost four decades. 


May 2020
• Eastern Shipbuilding conducted a keel-laying for the U.S. Coast Guard’s first-of-class Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC). The OPC will serve as a bridge between the Coast Guard’s national security cutter and the fast response cutter.


April 2020
• TOTE Services selected Philly Shipyard to construct five new training ships. The National Security Multi-Mission Vessels will be used by the Maritime Administration for training at America’s state maritime academies.

• Fincantieri Marinette Marine won a U.S. Navy design and construction contract worth up to $5.58 billion for a new class of guided-missile frigates. The contract covers one ship with options for nine more. 


March 2020
• All American Marine won a contract from SWITCH Maritime to finish construction and final outfitting on a 70-foot, 84-passenger hydrogen-powered electric drive vessel that will operate in the San Francisco Bay Area.


February 2020
• Titan Acquisition Holdings, a conglomerate of Vigor Industrial and MHI Holdings, purchased Huntington Ingalls’ San Diego Shipyard. 

• NOAA announced it will order two new oceanographic ships as part of a fleet rebuilding initiative. The ships will support the full range of NOAA’s missions and will be built in the U.S.

January 2020
• Seaspan Shipyards held a keel-laying ceremony for the Royal Canadian Navy’s future Joint Support Ship Protecteur, which is scheduled for delivery in 2023. A sister ship, Preserver, is expected in 2024.

December 2019
• Atlantic Wind Transfers contracted with Blount Boats to build two offshore wind farm crew transfer vessels, the first of which is scheduled for delivery in late November 2020.

November 2019
• Eastern Shipbuilding launched the first of three new Ollis-class ferries for the Staten Island Ferry system. The 320-foot, 4,500 passenger ship is a symbol of the recovery the shipyard had made in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael.

October 2019
• The University of Maine created and successfully tested a 25-foot, 3-D printed boat. 3Dirigo took 72 hours to print on the world’s largest prototype polymer 3D printer and earned records for the largest solid 3D-printed object and largest 3D-printed boat.

September 2019
• Vigor began work on a series of hybrid-electric ferries for Washington State Ferries that are projected to run entirely on electric power for most routes. Construction on the first of five 144-passenger Olympic-class ferries is scheduled to begin in 2021.

By Professional Mariner Staff