|
CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION FUND (CCF)
The Capital Construction Fund (CCF) program was created
to assist owners and operators of United States-flag vessels in accumulating the large
amounts of capital necessary for the modernization and expansion of the U.S. merchant
marine. The program encourages construction, reconstruction, or acquisition of vessels
through the deferment of Federal income taxes on certain deposits of money or other
property placed into a CCF.
CCF vessels must be built in the United States and
documented under the laws of the United States for operation in the Nation's foreign,
Great Lakes, or noncontiguous domestic trade or its fisheries. Participants must meet U.S.
citizenship requirements.
Operators of American-flag vessels are faced with a
competitive disadvantage in the construction and replacement of their vessels relative to
foreign-flag operators whose vessels are registered in countries that do not tax shipping
income. The CCF program helps counterbalance this situation through its tax-deferral
privileges.
Another goal of the program is to assist in the
modernization and expansion of vessels used in the noncontiguous domestic trade and the
Great Lakes trade. Companies utilizing the benefits of the CCF program represent a broad
cross section of the U.S. maritime industry. They include, for example:
- Liner companies that operate containerships and other
specialized vessels from the West Coast of the United States to points in the Far East and
Hawaii and from Gulf and East Coast ports to Europe, South America and Africa;
- Tanker operators who deliver crude oil from the North
Slope of Alaska to the U.S. mainland;
- Bulk vessel operators moving ore on the Great Lakes;
- Companies specialized in offshore towing and supply
operations which serve oil drilling and production rigs off the coasts of the United
States and in foreign waters;
- Operators serving Caribbean and Central American ports;
- Tug and barge operators that provide service between
Pacific Coast ports and points in Alaska, on the river system in Alaska, and in the Gulf
of Alaska;
- Cruise vessels and tug-barge operators providing inter-
island service in the Hawaiian Islands; and
- Operators providing ferry and passenger service on the
Great Lakes.
Thus, vessels constructed, reconstructed, or acquired
under this program span a wide spectrum, including large containerships, Roll-On/Roll-Off
vanships, barge-carrying vessels, and other general cargo vessels; crude oil and petroleum
product tankers, sophisticated liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers; self-unloading Great
Lakes bulk carriers; tugs, barges, supply vessels, and ferry and passenger vessels.
The operators range in size from large, consolidated
companies to partnerships and sole proprietors. They have one thing in common. They have
found that the CCF program can lower the effective cost to a company of replacing or
adding new vessels, significantly accelerate the time frame for accumulating capital for
such purposes, and be utilized to pay existing indebtedness on vessels if it is a part of
an overall building program.
Administrative Responsibility
The CCF program is the responsibility of two agencies
within the Federal Government - the Department of Transportation's, Maritime
Administration (MARAD) and the Department of Commerse's National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA). MARAD administers the program with respect to vessels operated in
the commerce of the United States other than in the fisheries. NOAA administers the
program with respect to vessels operated in the fisheries of the United States.
This page describes the CCF program as administered by
MARAD. For additional or specific information contact:
Office of Ship Financing
Maritime Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation
400 Seventh Street, S.W., Room 8122
Washington, D.C. 20590
(202) 366-5744
Parties interested in the program as it related to
fishing vessels should contact:
NOAA Financial
Services Division
Capital Construction Fund Program
1315 East West Highway, 13th Floor
Silver Spring, MD 20910-3282
(301) 713-2393, Ext. 195 |
