U.S. Navy Sets Sights on 10 Commercial Tankers To Rapidly Expand Logistics Fleet
Published on 23/06/2026
By Carter Johnston
Commercial orders for the Military Sealift Command (MSC), the backbone of global U.S. Navy operations, can rapidly close the U.S. Navy’s logistics shortage concerns in the Pacific.
The U.S. Navy’s newly established Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) Maritime office has started a search for commercial tankers to fill the service’s shortage of logistics ships, pushing a “non-developmental vessel” class that has already completed functional design, according to documents published last week.
The Navy is searching for both complete ship designs and shipyards that can facilitate the construction of such designs, including the current limitations of yard workforces and orderbooks, for the next 3-8 years.
The medium-range tankers will serve a minimum 230,000 barrels of various fuel types in the consolidated cargo replenishment at sea (CONSOL) mission, which the fleet tested last year with the USS Tripoli and a contracted commercial ship, M/V Empire State. “The ability to CONSOL allows Navy ships to stay at sea and get fuel instead of needing to go into port,” said Capt. Joseph A. Riendeau, M/V Empire State’s civilian master, at the time.
“The ability to take fuel from a tanker ship like Empire State allows ships, to stay at sea to refuel, rather than to come into a commercial fuel pier in port. The concept was developed to keep United States Ships out of foreign ports during times of conflict.”
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2026/06/u-s-navy-sets-sights-on-10-commercial-tankers-to-rapidly-expand-logistics-fleet/
