American Shipbuilding Association

CONTACT:
Cynthia L. Brown
202-544-8170

(Washington, DC, February 28, 2001) – The economic and national security of America depends on its position as a maritime power. “Unfortunately, America will not be a maritime nation if it does not have a maritime industry,” stated Cynthia Brown, President of the American Shipbuilding Association.

The President’s budget proposal calls for the dismantling of the Maritime Administration (MARAD), which exists to oversee maritime laws, policies and programs, and to promote a strong maritime industry. One program in particular that has been crucial in helping to sustain a U.S. maritime infrastructure necessary for our defense needs is the Title XI Ship Loan Guarantee Program.  Included in the President’s proposal to dismantle MARAD, is a plan to eliminate all funding for the Title XI Ship Loan Guarantee Program, which facilitates affordable commercial financing for construction of commercial ships in the United States. This proposal, if enacted, will severely weaken the defense shipbuilding industrial base that has already been cut to the bone as a result of eight years of the lowest naval ship procurement since 1932.   These are the wrong actions if the United States expects to remain a maritime nation.            

Recognizing the importance of sustaining America’s national defense shipbuilding industrial base and the role that the Title XI program has in promoting growth and modernization of our American maritime industry, Representatives Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA), Gene Taylor (D-MS), James Maloney (D-CT), Ronnie Shows (D-MS), Jo Ann Davis (R-VA), Ed Schrock (R-VA), Tom Allen (D-ME), Walter Jones (R-NC) and Charles “Chip” Pickering (R-MS) have jointly sent a letter to President Bush urging him to include $100 million in the fiscal year 2002 budget for the Maritime Administration's Title XI Ship Loan Guarantee Program.

With the low level of naval ship construction in the last decade, averaging just six ships a year, commercial shipbuilding as a result of the Title XI program has been critical in sustaining the national defense shipbuilding industrial base of 9,080 companies, employing 879,014 Americans in 47 states.  Commercial shipbuilding helps to lower the cost of naval ships and it facilitates the incorporation of commercial best practices, technology, and innovation into new naval ships, while maintaining stable employment for hundreds of thousands of high-skilled domestic shipbuilders and vendors. Without the Title XI program, many of the recently completed commercial ship construction contracts would never have taken place.  These commercial orders have been vital to sustaining the skills and companies that make up the defense shipbuilding industrial base.

The Title XI program has generated over $4 billion in commercial shipbuilding since it was revived in FY'93, and needs adequate funding to meet the considerable pent up demand for the program.  The American Shipbuilding Association joins with these Members of Congress and calls upon the Administration to demonstrate its commitment to a strong maritime industry by increasing the budget for Title XI from $0 to  $100 million to strengthen the maritime industry, rather than dismantle it.