Kvaerner Philadelphia Building Two Ships without Buyers

The shipyard is located at the Naval Business Center on the Delaware River. The two container ships are estimated to be worth approximately $100 million each. The shipyard recently built two container vessels for Matson Navigation, who is expected to possibly be interested in purchasing the ships.

Horizon Lines, formerly CSX, is now owned by Castle Harland, Inc., who recently purchased the Jones Act carrier for $650 million. They are also considered to be another potential client.

Kvaerner Philadelphia's CEO David E. Meehan says the company learned to build ships faster and cheaper. Maritime experts say that there should be a strong market for ships built by Kvaerner because price and quality have always been an issue.

The Philadelphia Shipyard Development Corporation, a quasi-government organization that has been setup to oversee the Kvaerner Philadelphia yard, believes that the yard will be successful in selling the ships, however price will be the issue.

Regarding the $429 million in public funds that have been used to operate the Kvaerner yard, Kvaerner has already paid back more than $30 million. $260 million of the funds have gone into capital improvements for the yard, which is basically owned by the Philadelphia Shipyard Development Corporation.