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Van Hollen, Cardin, Sarbanes, Brown Announce $1 Million for Continued Capacity Building at the Chesapeake Shipbuilding Corporation

Today, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin and Congressmen John Sarbanes and Anthony Brown (all D-Md.) announced $1,114,539 in federal funding through the Department of Transportation to help the Chesapeake Shipbuilding Corporation in Salisbury, which specializes in cruise ship production, with increased demand for cruise travel as recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

Funding comes through the Department of Transportation’s Fiscal Year 2022 Maritime Administration (MARAD) Small Shipyard Grant, which is designed to support shipyard operations and improvements at facilities with fewer than 1,200 employees.

“As the tourism and travel industry recovers, it is imperative that we provide our small shipyards with the resources they need to stay competitive in the market. The Chesapeake Shipbuilding Corporation has done a great job keeping up with demand and this federal funding will help it further scale its business, spurring job growth and boosting the local economy,” the lawmakers said. “We are proud of the company’s contribution to the Maryland economy and are pleased to announce these investments in its growth. We look forward to the yard’s continued success.”

This grant will finance the purchase of three main investments at the shipyard:

  • A CNC Messer System Plasma Table to cut sheets of steel up to 10 feet by 40 feet to reduce the production time of high quality parts and to support more than doubling the shipyard’s production output; 
  • A 30-ton mobile travelift crane to expand operations, including by offloading steel and loading steel onto the plasma table, and move assemblies around the shipyard; and
  • A CNC 250-ton, 14-foot press brake to fabricate in-house, computer-designed ship parts on site utilizing stock and drop material in order to reduce dependency on subcontractors, eliminate schedule interruption, and reduce fabrication costs.

Senators Van Hollen and Cardin as well as Congressmen Sarbanes and Brown previously authored a letter to Secretary Buttigieg expressing their support for the shipyard’s grant application.