Congressman Green Dedicates New US Flag Vessel
August 31, 2009
In a brief ceremony at Industrial Terminals in Houston, Texas, Congressman Gene Green (29th District Texas) directed the raising of the US Flag on the country’s newest cargo vessel, the Ocean Charger. The 8000 dwt ship (previously named Industrial Charger) is the third sister ship to fly the US Flag for US Ocean, a deep sea operating company represented by Intermarine.
After an introduction by Intermarine’s President and CEO, Andre Grikitis, Congressman Green addressed an audience of dock workers, crew members and shipping representatives, speaking about the cooperation between American industry and Government that provides the export opportunities to support the growing US Flag merchant marine fleet. Through financing backed by the US Export/Import Bank, American manufacturers are able to compete for construction projects around the world. Their success provides thousands of manufacturing jobs in the US and drives the demand for more US Flagged cargo vessels to carry the components to destination. As the ceremony was progressing, stevedores were busy loading two oil rigs manufactured in the Houston area under EXIM Bank programs and destined for Mumbai, India.
Intermarine first entered the US Flag Merchant Marine Fleet in 2001 with the reflagging of the Industrial Challenger (now the Ocean Atlas). This was followed in 2005 with the Ocean Titan and now the Ocean Charger is the third US Flag vessel represented by Intermarine. All three vessels are modern box hold heavy lift cargo ships with dual 200 metric ton cranes capable of 400 ton lifts. Together they are the only heavy lift US flagged merchant vessels.
Industrial Terminals in Houston is the largest breakbulk project cargo terminal in the US and the loadcenter for all Intermarine services in the Americas. Overall Intermarine services sail almost 200 voyages a year from the facility, carrying about 3 million revenue tons of cargo.