Page 11: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2004)

News institutions, which is not affiliated with the State of New York and receives no government support, exists to advance the professional interests of the

Maritime College, its alumni, faculty, and students. Funds for the scholarships were raised through various private donations to the Alumni Association's national board, as well as to its various local chapters, most notably. Long

Island.

Twenty-eight scholarships were dis- tributed to assist U.S. Maritime Service

Cadets meet tuition and fee expenses associated with their participation in

Summer Sea Term 2004 aboard

Maritime College's Training Ship 'Empire State,' pictured in the adjacent photo, which departs the College's New

York City Campus on May 15. Upon graduation, the Cadets will be licensed

U.S. Merchant Marine Officers, will have accredited Bachelor's Degrees in disciplines related to the maritime industry, and will be eligible for com- missions in our Nation's various sea services. More information on the pro- grams of the SUNY Maritime College

Alumni Association is available at www.suny maritimeal u m n i .org

EC: Spanish Shipyards

Owe €308.3M

The Spanish shipbuilding establish- ment received a financial blow when the

European Commission ruled last month that aid provided was not in line with EC rules on State aid to shipbuilding. In a nutshell, Izar owes 6 308.3 million, plus interest, a tall financial hurdle in the face of an already declining market in Spain.

In its ruling, the Commission estab- lished that State holding company —

Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones

Industrials (SEPI) — in 1999 and 2000, granted aid worth €500 million to the civil public shipyards that are today all owned by Izar. The aid took the form of a capital injection, loans and a purchase price above market value. As the loans amounting to €192.1 million to SEPI were paid back, the sum to be reim- bursed will amount to the aforemen- tioned € 308.3 million figure.

The object the decision are a number of transactions that took place between 1999 and 2000 involving SEPI and its subsidiaries Astilleros Espanoles (AESA), the former holding company of the public shipyards, and Bazan, the military shipbuilding group. Since the

Commission suspected that these trans- actions might have contained state aid, it opened a formal investigation in July 2000, was extended in November 2001 and extended again in May 2003.

In its investigation, the commission found that: • An excess purchase price paid by

SEPI when AESA sold three shipyards to SEPI in 1999. According to the -

Commission's calculation the purchase price paid by SEPI contained an aid ele- ment of € 55.9 million. The aid benefit- ed the remainder of civil shipyards still owned by ASEA; • A 1999 SEPI loan amounting to €192.1 million to three shipyards; • A capital injection by SEPI of €252.4 million to AESA in 2000, benefiting the remaining AESA's civil shipyards.

Striking a conciliatory, yet still hard- line note, the Commission further com- mented that it is aware that the conse- quences of this decision may be serious for the Spanish public shipyards, and its employees.

However, there were a number of complaints from shipyards in other EU

Member States and even from Spanish organizations, arguing that job losses have already occurred in their compa- nies as a result of suspected illegal state aid.

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Circle 307 on Reader Service Card

June 2004 11