Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) is placing three medium range tankers Overseas Santorini, Overseas Mykonos, and Overseas Sun Coast out of 10 vessels approved for the US Tanker Security Program (TSP).
The Tampa-based OSG, a publicly traded energy transportation company said on Wednesday that it had been awarded operating agreements under the Tanker Security Program (TSP), administered by the Maritime Administration. Through the TSP, each participating vessel will receive a $6M stipend from the US government each year.
The US Tanker Security Program has been created to provide a fleet of active, commercially viable, militarily useful, privately-owned US flagged product tank vessels trading internationally outside of conventional Jones Act trades. The TSP gives the Department of Defense (DoD) assured access to US-owned, US-flagged, and US-crewed commercial product tankers ready to support national economic and security requirements.
The Department of Defence will have an expanded pool of US flagged tankers operating worldwide that will allow for committed, reliable and loyal fuel transportation to the US military during a time of national crisis, as opposed to relying on transportation by foreign-flagged vessels.
“We are proud to be admitted into the TSP program and to be able to support the US government in its military efforts. In addition to expanding the number of available, militarily useful, US flagged tankers, a prime objective of the TSP is to deepen and broaden the pool of domestic merchant mariners who possess the requisite skills and experience to support a right-sized US flag tanker fleet. A future with more jobs for American mariners is an unequivocally good thing,” said OSG’s CEO and President, Sam Norton.
He also added that “the TSP is a critical program for the DoD, and OSG has taken a leadership role in working with its industry, labor, and government partners to get the TSP up and operating.”
The TSP is a newly created public-private partnership program, modeled from the Maritime Security Program (MSP), a similar program in which OSG has participated for over two decades. OSG submitted applications for the Congressionally approved and funded TSP program in February of this year.
