US Maintains Grants For Small Yards

Awards have been made to 27 yards across 20 states under the 2023 allocation from the Small Shipyard Grant Program, which provides financial assistance for projects that enable companies to modernise, increase productivity, strengthen international competitiveness, and expand job opportunities. The capital expenditure and equipment upgrades encompassed by the programme relate to vessel repair and reconfiguration as well as to new construction.

The latest, $20.8m payout is slightly higher than last year’s total grant funding of $19.6m, which involved 31 companies.

A condition of the scheme, which is predicated on the fact that most of the smaller US enterprises are family-run concerns with limited financial capacity, is that allocations are limited to a maximum 75% of estimated capital costs. Qualifying yards can only be those with fewer than 1,200 production employees.

The programme is also intended to create wider national benefit by fostering purchases of US-made equipment.

Of the 27 new awards, 22 involve individual grants in excess of $600,000, including eight at $1m and above.

Schemes that have been granted $1m or more include the purchase by Sterling Shipyard of Port Neches on the Mississippi River in Texas of a 120ft x 80ft (36m x 24.4m)) floating dock, the acquisition by the Driscoll yard at San Diego, California, of a 150t marine travelift, and purchase of new floating docks of 160ft x 86ft (48.8m x 26.2m) and 120ft x 64ft (36.6m x 19.5m), respectively, by Hughes Bros of Brooklyn and Verret Shipyard of Plaquemine, Louisiana.

Funding of a similar order ($1.1m) has been agreed towards Marine Group Boat Works of Chula Vista, California, obtaining a 820t variable-width marine travelift, and $1m is going to ACBL Transportation Services of Jeffersonville, Indiana, to support the acquisition of a 200ft x 70ft (61m x 21.3m) floating dock. In Washington State, Everett Ship Repair has been awarded approximately $1.2m for a 140t telescopic crawler crane.

The programme has contributed to the sector since 2008. US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said “Small shipyards strengthen America’s commercial fleet, bolster our economic security and generate good jobs.”