The Maritime Administration (Marad) has awarded $4.9 million in grants to support capital improvements at small shipyards.
Grants were awarded to nine small shipyards throughout the U.S. with the funds intended to support modernization, increase productivity, and make the yards more competitive in the global marketplace.
“Small shipyard grants do more than just improve shipyard infrastructure and equipment or add to the bottom line,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “They also create jobs and new opportunities, and they strengthen local economies.”
The grants were primarily available to U.S. yards with fewer than 600 production employees.
Grants were awarded to the following shipyards:
| Gravois Aluminum Boats, Jeanerette, La. | $582,410 for a big top portable shelter and a transporter |
| Chesapeake Shipbuilding, Salisbury, Md. | $545,505 for a mobile rough terrain crane and infrastructure improvements |
| Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Panama City, Fla. | $529,868 for a precision cutting system |
| Marine Group Boat Works, Chula Vista, Calif. | $414,954 for a gantry crane and metal working equipment |
| Diversified Marine, Portland, Ore. | $304,846 for a boom lifts, scissor lifts, welding equipment and other equipment |
| Conrad Orange Shipyard, Orange, Texas | $604,505, for LNG tank building and pipe welding equipment |
| Yank Marine, Dorchester, N.J. | $386,250 for a 70-ton rough terrain crane |
| Yager Marine, Owensboro, Ky. | $786,673 for a 1,200-ton drydock |
| American Shipyard Company, Newport, R.I. | $744,990 for a 200-ton travelift |
“U.S. shipyards produce what are unquestionably some of the best-built vessels in the world,” said Maritime Administrator Paul “Chip” Jaenichen. “The grants awarded today will help ensure that ‘Built in America’ remains an international shipbuilding standard.”
Marad received 118 grant applications requesting $80 million in assistance, far exceeding the $4.9 million made available for the grants.
