General Dynamics NASSCO and TOTE launched the Perla del Caribe, the second 764’ liquid natural gas fueled container ship for TOTE’s Sea Star Line, on Aug. 29 at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego.
Built for the Jacksonville, Fla., to San Juan, Puerto Rico, trade, the first Marlin-class LNG ship, the Isla Bella, was launched in April.
As part of the launch ceremony, which was open to the public, the ship’s sponsor, Ms. Emma Engle, a third-generation shareholder of Saltchuk, TOTE’s parent company, christened the ship with a traditional champagne bottle break over the ship’s hull. Alcinda Buirds, a 32-year NASSCO employee, pulled the trigger to release the ship into the San Diego Bay.
The U.S. Maritime Administration has a keen interest in promoting new propulsion technologies with lower emissions and domestic fuel sources, and so underwrote the TOTE project with a $324.6 million loan guarantee. In April, Marad Administrator Paul “Chip” Jaenichen hailed both the launch of the Isla Bella and the first of Harvey Gulf International Marine’s six planned LNG fueled OSVs.
