Florida-headquartered shipping company Crowley Maritime Corp. has christened the first of four new, LNG-ready, Jones Act product tankers at the Tampa Cruise Terminal.

The 50,000dwt 330,000-barrel-capacity ship named Ohio is the first tanker ever to receive the American Bureau of Shipping's (ABS) LNG-Ready Level 1 approval, meaning that Crowley has the option to convert the tanker to liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion in the future.

Pamela Beall, president of MPLX, a Marathon Petroleum Corporation subsidiary, has christened the vessel by breaking a ceremonial bottle of champagne across the hull of the vessel.

Ohio was constructed by Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, Inc. (APSI), the wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Aker Philadelphia Shipyard ASA.

The remaining three product tankers are also being built by APSI for Crowley and have planned deliveries through 2016.

All the tankers are 600 feet long and are capable of carrying up to 14.5 million gallons of crude oil or refined petroleum products. Ohio has already made two voyages to date carrying clean petroleum products to Florida.