Philly Shipyard Inc history

Shortly thereafter, this shipyard became an official part of the United States Navy, after the Navy purchased its first piece of real estate along the Delaware River, establishing the Southwark Yard between Federal and Reed Streets in 1801.

The Southwark Yard remained active for much of the 19th century, serving the country as a production center during the War of 1812 and through the Civil War.

After eight years of running two shipyards, Southwark closed in 1876.

Two of the largest class of United States battleships in history—the Wisconsin and New Jersey—were built during the war, and at one point in the summer of 1944 the yard launched the Essex class aircraft carrier Antietam and two heavy cruisers on the same day.

The year 1970 saw the completion of the Blue Ridge, the last new ship to be built at the Yard.

Rumors of closure persisted in the decades following, becoming reality when the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) made the decision to cease operations in 1991.

The shipyard was completely rebuilt from 1998-2000 and was optimally designed to support commercial shipbuilding operations. It is located on a portion of the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard which was closed in 1995.

The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard (PNSY) continued to operate as a naval base until 1996, employing more than 40,000 people during its peak production period in World War II. During that time, 53 warships were constructed, and an additional 1,218 were repaired.

Philly Shipyard was founded in 1997 by the City of Philadelphia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the United States Government and the Kværner Shipbuilding Division.

In 2000, PIDC acquired control of the Navy Yard on behalf of the City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development (PAID), where more than $150 million in publicly funded infrastructure improvements has leveraged in excess of $750 million of private investment.

At the time of Aker’s 2001 rescue, PIDC was taking ownership of most of the rest of the Yard, including 250 buildings, miles of roads and hundreds of acres of empty lots where buildings, storage yards or airfields had once been.

Since delivering its first vessel in 2003, Philly Shipyard has delivered more than 50% of all Jones Act ocean-going merchant ships including containerships, product tankers, and large crude oil tankers.

The retailer’s November 2004 decision to purchase six of the buildings, take options on others, and relocate its headquarters was a turning point.

In 2005 the shipyard became part of the newly created Aker American Shipping (AKASA). AKASA was formed and listed on the Oslo Stock exchange with the purpose of building and owning Jones Act tankers.

2007: Two additional product tankers ordered for conversion to shuttle tankers

In 2011, the shipyard renewed its public-private partnership with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia as part of a funding program for the construction of two product tankers.

2013: Signed joint venture agreement with Crowley for four product tankers

2014: Established Philly Tankers as pure-play Jones Act shipping company

2015: Philly Tankers agreed to sell product tanker contracts to Kinder Morgan

2017: Delivered three product tankers to Kinder Morgan (Hulls 026-028)

2018: Delivered first CV3600 container vessel to Matson (Hull 029)