Cascade General Signs Alliance Agreement With Alaska Tanker Company

Cascade General and Alaska Tanker Company (ATC) have signed an alliance agreement for the maintenance and repair of ATC's fleet of Alaska North Slope (ANS) tankers. The alliance formalizes a long-standing relationship between the leading commercial ship repair yard and the largest operator of American flag tankers in North America.

The purpose of the alliance is "to achieve a process of continuous improvement in standards of safety, environmental protection and quality, which results in the reliable and cost effective performance of ATC vessels, while providing long-term benefits to both parties."

The alliance agreement is non-exclusive, but commits ATC to sending a majority of its ships to Cascade General's Portland Shipyard for drydocking over the next two years and also earmarks 50% of the its voyage repairs to be performed by Cascade General outside of the shipyard at remote locations.

"We are delighted to have an alliance with ATC and to build a relationship that will provide our company with a more predictable workload which we can plan around," said Frank Foti, Cascade General's President and CEO. "We also believe this open relationship will allow us to generate significant savings for ATC over time, through integrated planning and a more progressive approach to cost and time management."

"This alliance reflects our need to partner with a major West Coast shipyard which has the infrastructure to support our operational requirements, while still giving us some flexibility on which projects we decide to send to them," said Douglas Webb, President and CEO of ATC. "Based on our past experience, we are confident that Cascade General is the right choice for us as our strategic supplier."

Alaska Tanker Company operates 11 ships which were previously owned and managed by separate shipping companies under charter to BP AMOCO, the largest producer of Alaska North Slope Crude. ATC is based in Beaverton, Oregon and is owned by Keystone Shipping, Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) and BP AMOCO.

Cascade General has traditionally been the dominant supplier of ship repair services to the ANS tanker fleet, and has extensive experience with the overhaul of all of the ships which are now under ATC's control. In recent years, the ANS fleet has gone through a period of consolidation in both size and number of operators. In the face of this, Cascade General has solidified strategic supplier partnerships with the majority of the companies which remain in this market.

Cascade General has already performed several major overhauls for ATC in 1999, including biennial drydockings of the S/S Denali (188,000 DWT), the Overseas Ohio (120,000 DWT) and the Overseas New York (120,000 DWT). Aside from these shipyard projects, the company has set up a Voyage Repair Station in Port Angeles, WA in order to provide topside repair services to ATC tankers and other ships transiting in and out of Puget Sound. ATC has designated Port Angeles as its preferred location for performing such work.

Related articles

Cascade General Busy "On All Fronts"

Cascade General operates Portland Shipyard, the largest and most complete ship repair and industrial facility on the West Coast of the United States. We provide full-service repairs and conversions for tankers, cruise ships, bulk carriers, container ships, government vessels, tugs, barges and workboats. Cascade General's Portland facility includes a 60-acre (24.2 ha) yard, 550,000 square feet (51,096 square meters) of craft shops, more than 7,600 ft. (2,326 meters) of full-service repair berths, and two floating dry docks.