When Chao was secretary of labor through both terms of the George W. Bush administration, she did the honors for Cape May Light in April 2001 at a ceremony on the Potomac in Alexandria, Virginia. The vessel was the first of two newbuilds for the short-lived Delta Queen Coastal Voyages, part of American Classic Voyages, which went bust after 9/11.
Cape May Light now sails as Victory 1 for Victory Cruise Lines and is registered in the Bahamas. Previously it operated for less than a year as Saint Laurent for Haimark.
Chao was also the godmother for Pride of America in June 2005 at festivities in New York City. The ship, which sails year-round Hawaii cruises for Norwegian Cruise Line, was originally the Project America newbuild for American Classic Voyages.
After that company collapsed before Project America's completion, the hull was towed to Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven for finishing, and special US legislation enabled it to be reflagged to the US for Hawaii service, along with two other NCL ships for Hawaii. (Subsequently the two other ships were flagged out and left Hawaii operations.)
Both Cape May Light and Project America were ordered under the Department of Transportation Maritime Administration's Title XI ship finance program, which guaranteed the loans to build them in US yards. Cape May Light was built at Atlantic Marine in Jacksonville, Florida, and Project America at Northrop Grumman's Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
Chao is the wife of Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky who is the Senate majority leader. According to the New York Times, she was the sole person to serve all eight years in the Bush administration.
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