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Aker Shipyard finishing its 10th ship

Aker Philadelphia Shipyard began final assembly today on the 10th ship the yard has built since it began operations in 2000.

Aker Philadelphia Shipyard began final assembly today on the 10th ship the yard has built since it began operations in 2000.

The 600-foot-long tanker, designed to transport 14 million gallons, is scheduled for delivery early next year.

The modern equivalent of the old keel-laying ceremony took place when the first block of modules, crafted and assembled in indoor shops over the last seven months, was hoisted into one of the yard's two mammoth dry docks. When all blocks are in place and welded together, the dry dock will be flooded and the vessel floated to a nearby pier for final work.

Work has been underway since January on another ship, also a tanker. These tankers will be sold to an affiliated company, Aker American Shipping, which has an agreement to lease them to Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. of New York.

The ships are the sixth and seventh being built under a billion-dollar deal with Overseas Shipholding, announced in April 2005, for 12 of the Veteran Class tankers at an average cost of $83 million each.

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