NEWPORT NEWS, Va., April 18, 2000 – Newport News Shipbuilding (NYSE: NNS) announced that it has been awarded a contract for ship repair work for the MV Phillips, a Military Sealift Command (MSC) pre-positioning ship chartered through Maersk Lines. Terms of the contract have not been disclosed.

Work to be performed on the ship includes hull blasting and painting; underwater equipment survey; tank blasting and painting; overhaul of deck cranes; survey and repair of main propulsion equipment; repair of machinery components; cargo equipment refurbishment; and deck equipment survey and repair. The ship is 755 feet long with a beam of 90 feet.

Phillips will arrive mid-May at Newport News Shipbuilding and will remain at the company for approximately one month. The work being performed on Phillips is identical to the work performed on MV Baugh, another pre-positioning ship repaired at NNS that was successfully redelivered April 4. Maersk has also received authority to award Newport News Shipbuilding a contract for work on an additional ship, MV Anderson.