Headquartered in Edison, New Jersey, U.S. Shipping Partners L.P. is a leading provider of long-haul marine transportation services. Trading on the New York Stock Exchange, they engage in this transportation primarily for refined petroleum products, petrochemical, and commodity chemical products. The company began their operations in 2002 and went public on November 3, 2004. The partnership employs approximately 40 shore staff and 400 fleet personnel.
The partnership’s main strategies are to operate their fleet safely and efficiently to meet customer and industry standards, and to remain a preferred supplier to major oil and chemical companies. They also seek to contract a high proportion of their capacity with major oil and chemical companies for periods of one or more years. U.S. Shipping Partners L.P.’s strategy is also to expand their fleet through strategic acquisitions and construction of new vessels.
Their fleet now consists of six integrated tug barge units (ITBs); one product tanker; three chemical parcel tankers and two articulated tub barge units (ATBs). The partnership is working on a capital construction program to build additional ATBs. They are also embarking on a joint venture to build more tank vessels in their pursuit of having one of the premier modern fleets in service. The partnership recently added the Galveston/Chemical Producer, the second ATB, to their fleet. The Galveston/Chemical Producer is on long-term charter to a major oil company. Their third ATB is set for delivery in November 2008, and the fourth ATB delivery is set for August 2009.
U.S. Shipping Partners L.P. serves large oil refiners and chemical producers. Their product tanker and six ITB’s transport gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and lubricants. These vessels ply their trade on the West Coast, serving refineries and terminals in the Pacific Northwest and California. They also serve the East Coast, loading at refineries in Texas or Louisiana for delivery to U.S. Atlantic ports. They additionally trade via the trans-Panama Canal.
Their parcel tankers carry specialty refined petroleum, petrochemical, and commodity chemical products. They make trips primarily from the Gulf of Mexico to industrial users at East Coast ports. These vessels transport paraxylene, caustic soda, alcohol, chlorinated solvents, toluene, and ethelyne glycol. The lot sizes of cargo transported on the parcel tankers is of smaller volume size than of those on the integrated tug barge units.
With their versatile fleet, U.S. Shipping Partners L.P. continues to serve their industrial customers and shareholders as they follow the trade routes before them.
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