On December 14, 2023, the U.S. Maritime Administration issued a Final
Rule which makes its "Federal Ship Financing
Program," widely known as "Title XI," more
flexible.
Title XI refers to the title with number in the Merchant Marine
Act, 1936 whereby the U.S. Government, as amended in 1972, offered
to guarantee the private financing of vessels built in the United
States meeting certain conditions. In 2019, MARAD converted the
program to a government loan program with the Federal Financing
Bank as the lender.
The main advantages of government financing are a favorable
interest rate, the potential to cover up to 87.5 percent of the
vessel costs, and a potentially long period of loan amortization
extending to the life of the vessel. The main disadvantage of the
program is the substantial application processing time. MARAD's
website indicates, for example, that ECO Edison, LLC submitted an
application that was accepted by MARAD in September 2022 for a
Service
