The US Maritime Administration (MARAD) has announced a US$ 324.6 million loan guarantee for TOTE Shipholdings and Saltchuk Resources for their Marlin Class vessels.

The two new Marlin Class vessels, the world’s first LNG powered containerships, will serve the Puerto Rico trade and will be complete in 2015 and 2016.

This financing is made available under the Title XI Loan Guarantee Program. TOTE and Saltchuk qualified for this loan as the new ship build is an advancement in shipbuilding technology and being constructed at a US shipyard. The new containerships are being built at General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego, California.

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