As the year comes to a close many are wondering what happened to the promised tanker security program (TSP)?? After being passed in an NDAA in 2020 and funded for 2021 the TSP has not been implemented this year. MARAD has failed. This should have been an easy program to implement as it mirrors the military sealift program MSP. Where did the 60 million dollars go and was there any government corruption? If so which MARAD employees should be held responsible ?
They have roughly one month to implement the program a the end of the year. If not there should be lawsuits to hold MARAD responsible.
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Well this program was supposed to strengthen the merchant marine and provide more long lasting jobs. Seeing nothing was done this year by MARAD, I do not think the money should be allocated by the end of the year. If they did the money would be going right into the pockets of the company not the mariners. However, if MARAD gets another 60 million they should double the ships in the program to 20 because they will have double the money (120 million) for 2023.
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What makes anyone think MARAD will ever do anything to strengthen the merchant marine or the merchant mariner?
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This is the clearest and biggest recent example of MARAD not supporting the US Merchant Marine.
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https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3270/text
Most programs were extended. The interesting thing would be to ask who got how much money and for what. Your senator or other congress critter should be able to answer that question if asked.
Have no fear, I’m sure big Konrad and his kickass gcaptain team are on top of with a deep investigation. Expect multiple well written articles to appear soon.
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The short answer for why the TSP has not materialized is that the cargos to support the ships don’t exist. For MSP tankers there are already two, OS Santorini and OS Mykonos. Those two ships fill in with commercial cargos because there is not enough preferred cargo for 2 ships, adding 10 ships to the program is not viable the way it’s written. Without high valve cargo the commercial operators will not commit to additional ships even with the subsidy.
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Too busy sending BILLIONS to Ukraine. . . . . .
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I am just surprised that there is barely any news or updates regarding the program. I mean 10 additional ships in the US fleet is a substantial increase in US tonnage and you think companies would trying to jump at the opportunity to increase their fleets. @cape_cod_night are you saying that even with the 6 million per ship subsidy it is not profitable to operate a US ship in the foreign trade without subsiding it further with high value government cargo?
Correct. The very basic answer is that there is not enough meat on the bone to justify the expense of bringing in new ships for the operator. The tanker security program is not viable the way it’s created because it mimics the maritime security program. Dry cargo operations and wet cargo operations are not the same business plans. If the government wants tankers they will need to charter them long term.
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These two are both built in S.Korea (Hyundai), which is no problem for ships in MSP :
Will the same apply for TSP?
Yes TSP tankers can be foreign built. However, they will need to be flagged in the USA and therefore crewed by Americans.
Yes, which is why OSG built 2 more foreign tankers with the intention of reflagging them in.
Heard that the military plans to charter 6 tankers as it closes Red Hook in Hawaii. Does anyone know if the TSP tankers would also get their subsidy if chartered. I know MSP ships loose the subsidy while on a military charter (as in they are not paid it for the duration of the charter) then regain the payments when the military charter ends.
If they’re smart they’ll scoop up the ATC ship laid up in Singapore. Plenty of storage on that thing.
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what ship is that?
It’s not a product/ chem tanker. They want MR tankers
Alaskan Frontier.
Why not? It holds 1.3 million barrels. That’s 4 MRs.
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That would be the smart thing to do just have the Alaska Frontier sit off the coast of Hawaii. And essential replace Red Hook. Have the 2 chartered tankers the navy currently has out there and the 6 additional ships to shuttle fuel from California to the frontier in Hawaii and from the frontier in Hawaii to the navy ships in the pacific.
But what kind of shape is the Alaska Frontier in and are the tank coatings appropriate for Jet fuel and does ATC own it? Was the vessel sold to OSG?