Aker Philadelphia Shipyard

Pink slips will go out soon at Aker Philadelphia Shipyard to an undisclosed number of workers because the shipbuilder does not have new orders or enough work to keep 1,000 people busy all the time. Aker has three product tankers in various stages of production, all of which have been sold. The last tanker is scheduled for completion in 2012. Aker has ordered parts for two additional tankers but still does not have financing or buyers. With credit tight and the economy crimping demand for petroleum products, offshore drilling, and new ship orders, Aker chief executive officer Jim Miller met with union leaders and employees this week and said there would be layoffs at the South Philadelphia yard.

Aker Philadelphia Shipyard faces an enormous challenge to stay afloat in an ever shrinking U.S. shipbuilding industry. Aker is one of two U.S. shipyards that build oceangoing commercial vessels under the 90-year-old U.S. Jones Act, which requires U.S.-made and U.S.-operated vessels transport goods between U.S. ports. Aker stands to gain substantial new vessel orders if a U.S. marine-highways system ever gets going. Hoping that will happen, American Feeder Lines L.P., of New York, recently signed "letters of intent" with Aker and a Green Bay, Wis., yard to build five ships each, and maybe more, starting in 2012 to transport cargo in container ships between Maine and Texas.

Kristian Rokke, son of Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Rokke, will take over as president and CEO of Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, effective April 5. Rokke, 27, is currently senior vice president of operations at the Philadelphia yard. He has worked in key operating positions, including as controller, since joining the shipyard in May 2007. Rokke's father, chairman of Norwegian parent company Aker ASA, engineered the deal in 2001 to take over the former Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard, which was in trouble and flirting with bankruptcy.

Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, which once employed more than 1,000 at the Navy Yard and which has been a significant Philadelphia economic force for a decade, is just months from shutting down. Aker's survival relies on several financial-rescue efforts coming together to finance the construction of two more oceangoing tankers. "If they don't build these next two ships, this yard is shutting down," said Manuel "Manny" Stamatakis, chairman of the Philadelphia Shipyard Development Corp.

It's no surprise that even after a Norwegian shipbuilder was given hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to come to the Navy Yard in the late 1990s, the yard is in danger of closing. That's because the deal never made good economic sense - at least from the taxpayers' standpoint. And taxpayers were the ones underwriting this corporate welfare. For those who missed the New Year's Eve report, the Aker Philadelphia Shipyard is threatening to close if it doesn't get an additional $42 million in state funding.

With the global recession crimping demand for petroleum products, offshore drilling, and new ship orders, Aker Philadelphia Shipyard is feeling the pinch. The nine-year-old Aker delivered its seventh product tanker in June and has orders for five more through early 2011. But its only customer and buyer at the moment - American Shipping Co. - said this month it had still not been able to arrange financing for two of the five vessels. One bright spot: A Brazilian petroleum company, Petrobras, wants to charter the two shuttle tankers and has signed a contract.

Aker Philadelphia Shipyard Inc. has entered into an agreement with Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. for a construction loan totaling $80 million, the shipyard said Wednesday in a filing on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The private construction financing was announced in February, along with $42 million from Pennsylvania, and a commitment by Aker ASA, the Norwegian parent company, of $210 million to complete two ships which do not yet have buyers. Under the agreement, Caterpillar will fund as much as $40 million for each of two product tankers being built for the shipyard's own account.

Aker Philadelphia Shipyard delivered its 10th tanker, the Overseas Anacortes, officials of the South Philadelphia shipyard said today. The 46,000-ton vessel, built for American Shipping Co., will leave the yard within days and will carry petroleum products along the West Coast for Tesoro Corp., of San Antonio, Texas. Aker Philadelphia has two more ships under construction, both scheduled for completion by next spring. Beyond that, it has no firm ship orders or financing and has started layoffs among its 1,000 employees.

Aker Philadelphia Shipyard has delivered its ninth product tanker to American Shipping Company ASA to transport refined petroleum for Tesoro Corp. The 10,000-ton ship, named Overseas Martinez, is one of a 12-tanker order that is a single project for American Shipping Co. and Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. Aker has three other vessels currently under construction. All are scheduled for delivery through spring 2011. In 2000, Aker, a unit of Norway based Aker ASA, took over the Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard.

The aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy won't be back in Philadelphia until early March. It was initially thought that dredging around Pier 4 at the Navy Yard, where the huge vessel will be placed in long-term storage, would be finished by yesterday. But more work remains to be done, shipyard sources said. The Navy said it would give advance notice of when the big aircraft carrier will be towed here from Norfolk, Va., and will suggest parks along the Delaware River where people can gather to watch it pass.

In the Region Aker identifies source of loan Aker Philadelphia Shipyard Inc. has entered into an agreement with Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. for a construction loan totaling $80 million, the shipyard said Wednesday in a filing on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The private construction financing was announced in February, along with $42 million from Pennsylvania, and a commitment by Aker ASA , the Norwegian parent company, of $210 million to complete two ships that do not yet have buyers.

Aker Philadelphia Shipyard Inc. has entered into an agreement with Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. for a construction loan totaling $80 million, the shipyard said Wednesday in a filing on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The private construction financing was announced in February, along with $42 million from Pennsylvania, and a commitment by Aker ASA, the Norwegian parent company, of $210 million to complete two ships which do not yet have buyers. Under the agreement, Caterpillar will fund as much as $40 million for each of two product tankers being built for the shipyard's own account.

He has the good looks of Britain's Prince William - and the smile to go with it. Though not royalty, Kristian Rokke, 28, hails from one of the wealthiest families in Norway. He is the new chief executive officer of Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, where he has worked for four years in various management roles. Rokke began at 17 in the shipbuilding industry in Norway. His March appointment by parent company Aker ASA in Norway was a surprise, coming just weeks after a financing deal, including $42 million from Pennsylvania, had enabled the shipyard to stay open to build two more ships - without buyers lined up - until future work could be secured.

Aker Philadelphia Shipyard said Friday that it had completed its 16th ship, the last one to have a buyer before construction began. The Overseas Tampa is the 12th Veteran Class MT-46 Product Tanker produced by the shipyard and was delivered to American Shipping Co., with a price tag of about $105 million. It will depart in coming days, Aker said in a statement, with the Overseas Shipping Group having chartered it from ASC. Overseas Shipping Group might then lease it to an oil company to move oil between U.S. ports.

Kristian Rokke, son of Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Rokke, will take over as president and CEO of Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, effective April 5. Rokke, 27, is currently senior vice president of operations at the Philadelphia yard. He has worked in key operating positions, including as controller, since joining the shipyard in May 2007. Rokke's father, chairman of Norwegian parent company Aker ASA, engineered the deal in 2001 to take over the former Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard, which was in trouble and flirting with bankruptcy.

Aker Philadelphia Shipyard has received a $42 million lifeline from Pennsylvania taxpayers that enables the nation's second-largest U.S. commercial shipbuilder to stay afloat and construct two more oceangoing vessels on spec without buyers. Without the state money - and private construction financing that Aker says it has lined up - the shipyard might have closed by July. Calling the shipyard "the best commercial shipbuilding facility in the nation," Gov. Corbett said Thursday it was "uniquely positioned to successfully compete for future orders for commercial ships that must be built in the United States, and this partnership allows the shipyard to retain its extraordinary workforce and remain in operation until that time.

It's no surprise that even after a Norwegian shipbuilder was given hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to come to the Navy Yard in the late 1990s, the yard is in danger of closing. That's because the deal never made good economic sense - at least from the taxpayers' standpoint. And taxpayers were the ones underwriting this corporate welfare. For those who missed the New Year's Eve report, the Aker Philadelphia Shipyard is threatening to close if it doesn't get an additional $42 million in state funding.

I don't like predictions, and I certainly put very little stock in them. That said, the start of a new year always finds me writing down lists of things to keep tabs on. I'll leave it to the oil-industry analysts to predict if the price for a barrel of crude oil will hit $100, or even $150, by sum- mer. I'll just note that when oil closed Tuesday at $89.33, it was 9.6 percent higher than it was a year ago. If oil prices were to spike...

Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, which once employed more than 1,000 at the Navy Yard and which has been a significant Philadelphia economic force for a decade, is just months from shutting down. Aker's survival relies on several financial-rescue efforts coming together to finance the construction of two more oceangoing tankers. "If they don't build these next two ships, this yard is shutting down," said Manuel "Manny" Stamatakis, chairman of the Philadelphia Shipyard Development Corp.