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HVIDE MARINE CHRISTENS FIFTH LIGHTSHIP TANKER

Newport News, VA, June 18, 1999 – Hvide Marine Incorporated (Nasdaq: HMAR) today announced the christening of the HMI Brenton Reef, an IMO Type III chemical carrier and the final vessel in a series of five double-hull lightship tankers built for Hvide by Newport News Shipbuilding under the Double Eagle program. The ship’s sponsor was Sharon Sells North, wife of RADM Robert C. North, U.S.C.G Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety and Environmental Protection.

“This vessel, like her predecessors in the Double Eagle program, responds to the mandate of Congress and the American people to build double-hull tankships that will transport petroleum and chemical products in U. S. waters in the safest manner possible,” commented Jean Fitzgerald, Chairman, President and CEO. “She is U.S.-built in one of the finest shipyards in the world, U.S.-crewed and U.S.-flagged, and her entry into the Jones Act market marks another step forward in the evolution of environmentally friendly marine transportation.”

Named after the Coast Guard lightships which formerly stood watch at the entrance to Narragansett Bay near Newport, Rhode Island, the HMI Brenton Reef is jointly owned by wholly owned subsidiaries of Hvide and Newport News. She will be operated by Hvide Marine and marketed through Hvide’s Ocean Specialty Tankers Corporation subsidiary in Houston, Texas. Of the five vessels in the lightship tanker series, three are crude oil and petroleum product carriers, while the last two, including the HMI Ambrose Channel and the HMI Brenton Reef, are chemical tankers capable of carrying a wide variety of chemical products in 14 specially coated tanks.

Under the terms of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, better known as OPA 90, all single-hull petroleum tank vessels must be phased out by 2015. Hvide Marine currently operates a fleet of six chemical and six petroleum product carriers in the Jones Act trade, four of which are double-hulled and thus have no retirement date under OPA 90. These vessels transit U.S. coastal waters and deliver products such as caustic soda, phosphoric acid, gasoline and jet fuel to ports along the Gulf, Atlantic and Pacific Coasts.

Based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Hvide Marine (pronounced “VEE-dah”) is one of the world’s leading providers of marine support and transportation services, primarily to the energy and chemical industries. Visit Hvide Marine on the Web at www.hvide.com.

Newport News Shipbuilding designs and constructions nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines for the U. S. Navy and provides life-cycle maintenance services for ships in the Navy fleet. The Company employs 18,000 people and has annual revenues of approximately $1.8 billion. Visit NNS on the Web at www.nns.com.