China dominates the world’s sea lanes.
In addition to its powerful navy, China possesses the world’s largest commercial shipping fleet — 5,500 vessels strong, with hundreds more added per year. By contrast, America’s fleet currently numbers under 100 with, at most, five ships added per year.
Today, only a fraction of the tankers and cargo ships carrying goods to and from our country fly the American flag — by some estimates, less than 0.4%.
The diminished state of American commercial shipbuilding is a pending economic and national security disaster.
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Fortunately, President Donald Trump understands the urgency of this situation and has prioritized an American shipbuilding revival. On Feb. 13, his administration released a comprehensive Maritime Action Plan to help restore America’s maritime dominance.
According to the plan, “Less than one percent of new commercial ships are built in the United States. With only 66 total shipyards … the United States does not have the capacity necessary to scale up the domestic shipbuilding industry to the rate required to meet national priorities…. A self-sustaining domestic shipbuilding sector is critical for national and economic security.”
The plan offers specific recommendations to strengthen America’s maritime capacity, secure our supply chains, and build a resilient maritime workforce. In total, the White House’s Maritime Action plan is a much-needed, holistic approach to restore U.S. commercial shipping, and I commend Trump and his team for issuing it.
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As the plan recognizes, however, Congress must be part of the solution. The strategy proposes tax incentives, creative funding mechanisms and new programs that all require congressional authorization and resourcing. That’s why my colleagues and I are working to pass the “SHIPS for America Act.” This bipartisan legislation, which I helped introduce last year, substantially overlaps with the president’s vision and is explicitly called out in the plan.
The legislation would make U.S.-flagged vessels commercially competitive in international commerce by cutting red tape, rebuilding the shipyard industrial base and expanding and strengthening mariner and shipyard worker recruitment. Our proposal would train a pipeline of new workers, encourage domestic and foreign investment in maritime infrastructure, and provide the permitting reform and deregulation that is essential for timely construction of new shipyards.
Underlying all of the bill’s initiatives is a trust fund to support an expansion of the U.S.-flagged fleet to 250 vessels by 2035. And the SHIPS Act would create multiple investment tax credits to build up the U.S. shipyard industry for both military and commercial oceangoing vessels.
Key to spurring private-sector investment in the industry is the designation of Maritime Prosperity Zones. These areas — modeled off the successful Opportunity Zones contained in President Trump’s 2017 tax cut — would supercharge investment in communities that will be most important to rebuilding our maritime industrial base.
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From the coastlands to the heartland, these places on our oceans, rivers and Great Lakes will be the hubs for building up our production facilities and supply chains that will power America’s maritime dominance over the next several decades.
The SHIPS Act is Congress’s answer to President Trump’s call to restore America’s maritime dominance. It provides the legal authorities and resources necessary to make President Trump’s Maritime Action Plan a reality. It has support from Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate.
The release of the White House Maritime Action Plan should serve as a wake-up call for Congress to act quickly and pass our bill. Reviving American shipbuilding will take time, but as President Trump recognizes, doing so is critical to our economic and national security.
It’s time to make American ships again.
