Crowley Awarded MARAD Ship Management Contracts

(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.; May 8, 2000) The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) last week awarded Crowley Liner Services four contracts totaling $34.9 million to manage eight Ready Reserve Force (RRF) ships over the next five years.

All total, MARAD awarded 33 contracts covering 74 ships to nine different ship management companies. The contracts have an estimated combined value over the next five years of $1.1 billion. This figure includes the $316.3 million value of the basic contracts, plus expected costs of shipyard work and other maintenance and operational expenses for which the ship managers will be reimbursed.

Crowley will be responsible for maintaining its assigned ships in full readiness status, crewing the vessels and operating them in support of national defense objectives when called upon.

Vessels under Crowley management include the Cape Lambert and Cape Lobos located in James River, Va.; the Cape Washington and Cape Wrath located in Baltimore, Md.; the Cape Intrepid and Cape Island located in Tacoma, Wash., and the Cape Isabel and Cape Inscription located in Long Beach, Calif.

The RRF is comprised of militarily useful ships maintained in a high state of readiness to be activated within four, five, 10, or 20 days of notice from the Defense Department. The Transportation Departments Maritime Administration is responsible for acquiring, upgrading, deactivating, and maintaining the RRF.

“These contracts will enable the Ready Reserve Force to continue to perform its vital role in protecting Americas national security, one of the Department of Transportations top strategic priorities,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater.

“Our partnership with the American maritime industry has been very successful,” said Maritime Administrator Clyde J. Hart Jr. “Privately owned U.S.-flag merchant vessels and Americas merchant seafarers serve our nation in peace and war. These contracts ensure that this experience and expertise will help keep our reserve ships ready to meet any emergency we may face.”

In recent years, RRF ships have supported military and humanitarian operations in the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia.

We are very pleased to be a part of this Ready Reserve Force program, said Tom Crowley, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO of Crowley Maritime, parent company of Crowley Liner Services. Our team will bring professionalism and vigilance to the task of keeping these ships ready to serve our country.

When activated, RRF ships are crewed by civilian American seafarers. The highest priority ships are maintained with partial crews onboard. When the ships are activated, remaining crewmembers come from the pool of seafarers such as those whose normal jobs are aboard other U.S.-flag merchant ships, which operate in the nations domestic and international commerce.

Ship manager contracts are awarded on a competitive basis, utilizing full and open competition. Each contract covers a group of two or three ships, and the maximum award for any one contractor is 12 ships.

Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, Crowley Liner Services provides cargo common carrier services between Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and the north coasts of Colombia and Venezuela. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oakland-based Crowley Maritime Corp., founded in 1892. Additional information about Crowley Maritime Corp. and its subsidiaries, Crowley Liner Services, Crowley Marine Services, Crowley Logistics and Crowley Petroleum Transport may be found on the Internet at www.crowley.com.