USDOT agency awards $4.9 million in grants to nine small shipyards

Nine small U.S. shipyards recently were awarded grants totaling $4.9 million by the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD).

The funds came from the Small Shipyard Grant Program. MARAD said these shipyards play a significant role in repairing and building ships.

“U.S. shipyards produce what are unquestionably some of the best-built vessels in the world,” MARAD Administrator Paul Jaenichen said. “The grants awarded today will help ensure that ‘Built in America’ remains an international shipbuilding standard.”

The program is intended to support those facilities with approximately 600 production employees or fewer.

The program received 118 applications. Approximately $167 million has been awarded since the grant program began in 2009.

The recipients of this year’s grant are Diversified Marine in Portland, Oregon; Yager Marine in Owensboro, Kentucky; American Shipyard Company LLC in Newport, R.I; Conrad Orange Shipyard in Orange, Texas; Marine Group Boat Works in Chula Vista, Calif.; Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Salisbury, Maryland; Gravois Aluminum Boats LLC in Jeanerette, Louisiana; Eastern Shipbuilding Group in Panama City, Florida; and Yank Marine in Dorchester, New Jersey.

“Small shipyard grants do more than just improve shipyard infrastructure and equipment or add to the bottom line,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said. “They also create jobs and new opportunities, and they strengthen local economies.”