specifications in accordance with Det Norske Veritas (DNV) requirements.
The Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) has awarded Jacksonville, Fl.-based Crowley Government Services Inc. a $16 million, one-year option under a previously awarded contract for the operation of the tanker Stena Polaris.
The option is for “the fixed-price portion of a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract with reimbursable elements to exercise a one-year option period for the operation of the tanker,” according to the MSC.
Stena Polaris, a 64,917 dwt., 600-foot double-hulled tanker, was built in 2010 to Ice Class – 1A specifications in accordance with Det Norske Veritas (DNV) requirements.
The option extends the scope of the 2022 charter contract Crowley won from the MSC to operate the tanker.
At that time, the vessel was contracted to serve “the bulk fuel needs of the U.S. Department of Defense in the Arctic and Antarctic regions as well as transporting fuel in the Mediterranean Sea region.”
The recent option calls for Stena Polaris “to provide support (for) worldwide bulk fuel requirements of the Department of Defense (DOD) to include biennial delivery to Antarctica for the National Science Foundation and a delivery each year to Greenland for the DOD and the Defense Logistics Agency Energy.”
The work will be performed worldwide and is expected to be completed, if all options are exercised, by February 18, 2027.
The option is funded by Transportation Working Capital funds for fiscal 2024 and will expire at the end of the fiscal year. MSC is the contracting activity.
Stena Polaris is one of the medium range (MR) tankers reflagged as U.S. ships by a joint venture between Crowley and Stena Bulk USA to participate in the Tanker Security Program (TSP).
The TSP was established “to ensure that a core fleet of U.S.-based product tankers can operate competitively in international trade and, at the same time, enhance U.S. supply chain resiliency for liquid fuel products.
This provides the Department of Defense “with assured access to ten U.S.-registered product tank vessels that may be used to supply the armed forces with fuel during times of armed conflict or national emergency,” according to the Military Sealift Command.
Last year, MARAD selected three Crowley-managed Stena IMOIIMAX tankers to participate in the TSP.
Those tankers were reflagged as U.S.-registered vessels with U.S. crews and continue to sail commercially, but can be chartered on a short-term basis to serve U.S. government operations.