Kvaerner/Warnow Treuhand Model for Philadelphia

摘要

The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard - closed by the United States Navy in 1995 -has been a major industrial facility in the Greater Philadelphia Region. The loss of the yard costs a lot of jobs, not only in the (almost bankrupt) City of Philadelphia, but also in Pennsylvania (supply industry). Politicians had tried for years to keep the yard alive or to reactivate it respectively. Negotiations with the German Meyer Werft in Papenburg were not successful and now (21st of October 1997) the Americans agreed to sign a contract with Kvaerner to adopt the German Warnow Werft now Kvaerner Warnow Werft) Treuhand model (Treuhand is an independent administrative institution to transfer state-owned property to private hands in return for investments and job-saving guarantees instead of payment). Pennsylvania and Philadelphia pay up to $ 212 million tax money to reconstruct the yard for civil shipbuilding, another $ 187 million for workers training (disbursed only when and if Kvaerner incurs the expenses) and they will provide Kvaerner with a 99-year lease of the shipyard with a symbolic 1 $ option at the end of that term.