Hvide Marine and Tesoro Maritime announce new transport service

Marine transportation provider Hvide Marine and Tesoro Maritime, a subsidiary of Tesoro Petroleum, are pleased to announce the beginning of a new double-hull petroleum transport service in Alaskan waters. The 46,000-ton HMI Cape Lookout Shoals, one of Hvide Marine's (HMI) new US-flagged Lightship-class double-hull tankers, began her new charter the first week of August operating under a three-year contract with Gold Star Maritime, a subsidiary of Tesoro Maritime.
The ship will service three refineries owned and operated by Tesoro, located in Nikiski, Alaska on Cook Inlet; Anacortes, Washington on the Puget Sound; and at Kapolei, Hawaii. While the HMI Cape Lookout Shoals' inaugural voyage under the charter was a seven-day transport from Alaska to Hawaii, the tanker will mostly be employed in northern waters. Her typical itinerary includes transporting Cook Inlet crude from the Drift River Loading Platform to the Kenai Pipe Line (KPL) dock, which services the nearby Tesoro Alaska Refinery at Nikiski, and transporting Alaska North Slope crude from Valdez to the Anacortes refinery.

Tim Plummer, president of Tesoro Maritime noted, "We look forward to a long-term relationship with Hvide. Bringing this double-hull ship into our Alaskan operations shows our commitment to environmental safety as it replaces an older, double-bottom tanker that went off charter."
Gerhard E. Kurz, HMI's CEO, stated, "We are very excited about this new contract which will enable us to demonstrate to industry the unique benefits, in terms of safety and environmental protection, afforded by our state-of-the-art double-hull tanker fleet. There is no substitute for these vessels in sensitive environments."
James Carter, executive director of the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council (CIRCAC), added, "Our mission is to promote environmentally safe marine transportation and oil facility operations in Cook Inlet. We consider a single-hull vessel being replaced by a double-hull vessel as a big step forward in Alaska's overall environmental protection. Congratulations to Tesoro for taking this initiative." CIRCAC was established as one of two regional councils mandated by federal law as part of the OPA 90 legislation.

Tesoro Petroleum Company is an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products and provider of marine logistics services. Tesoro operates three refineries in the Western US with a combined capacity of 275,000 bpd. Tesoro's branded retail network is currently comprised of approximately 260 stations, of which approximately 65 are company owned and operated.

HMI is a leading global provider of marine transportation and offshore energy support services -- primarily to the petroleum and chemical industries -- also providing harbour and offshore towing services, ship repair services and new vessel construction. With a fleet of 260 vessels including its US- flag tanker fleet of 11 ships, HMI provides benchmark quality service to its customers based on innovative technology, the highest safety standards, modern efficient equipment and dedicated, professional employees.