Crowley Alaska Tankers, LLC, has completed its acquisition of three tankers from SeaRiver Maritime Inc. and is now chartering the vessels back to SeaRiver under varying multi-year terms.
The tankers Liberty Bay and Eagle Bay, now under Crowley ownership and operation and renamed Washington and California respectively, each have a capacity of 760,000 barrels and transport crude from Alaska to West Coast refineries. The tanker SR American Progress, renamed Oregon, has a capacity of 342,000 barrels and transports refined petroleum between the U.S. Gulf and East Coast ports.
Crowley signed the purchase agreement in November 2017.
“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.
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 owns and/or operates a fleet of Jones Act-qualified double-hull tank vessels, including 17 articulated tug-barges (ATB) and now 23 tankers with a combined capacity of more than 12 million barrels, all built since 2002. Among this tank vessel fleet is a tanker and an ATB already on charter to SeaRiver, a privately held subsidiary wholly owned by ExxonMobil.
Crowley has been operating in Alaska since 1953, providing upstream energy support services, tanker assistance and escort services with tugboats, and petroleum transportation, distribution and sales. In addition to the company’s own ATBs operating in Alaska, Crowley manages and crews tankers carrying petroleum between Alaska and U.S. West Coast refineries.