US SUBSIDISES SMALL SHIPYARDS (free market tax and spend)

[proud_ionian]

source: MGN

THE US government is handing out US$10m to small shipyards under the the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act. Provisions for “Assistance to Small Shipyards’’ allow for grants for capital improvements, and “related infrastructure improvements at qualified shipyards that will facilitate the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and quality of domestic ship construction for commercial and Federal Government use.

The grants may not be used to construct buildings or other physical facilities or to acquire land unless such use is specifically approved by Marad as being consistent with and supplemental to capital and related infrastructure improvements.

Marad says it intends to award the full amount of the available funding through grants to “the extent that there are worthy applications”. It says: “There is no dollar limitation on the amount of a grant for which application may be made; however, the Maritime Administration will seek to obtain the maximum benefit from the available funding by awarding grants for as many of the most worthy projects as possible.”