Bipartisan bill aims to boost American shipbuilding

(WASHINGTON) — Lawmakers on Thursday unveiled bipartisan legislation to reform the commercial maritime and shipbuilding sectors so the United States can better compete with China, USNI News reported.

The Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security for America Act, also known as the SHIPS Act, would stipulate the creation of a national maritime strategy and a maritime security adviser who would sit on the White House National Security Council.

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., who President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate as his national security adviser, announced the bill in October alongside Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.

A ship under construction at Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia. Philly Shipyard file photo

“We’ve always been a maritime nation, but the truth is we’ve lost ground to China, (which) now dominates international shipping and can build merchant and military ships much more quickly than we can,” Kelly, who graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and is one of the bill’s co-authors, said in a prepared statement.

“The SHIPS for America Act is the answer to this challenge,” Kelly continued. “By supporting shipbuilding, shipping and workforce development, it will strengthen supply chains, reduce our reliance on foreign vessels, put Americans to work in good-paying jobs, and support the Navy and Coast Guard’s shipbuilding needs.”

The bill has support from members of both parties in both chambers. Other sponsors of the bill include Rep. Trent Kelly, R-Miss., who chairs the House Armed Services Committee seapower and projection forces subcommittee; Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., who is the ranking member of the HASC readiness subcommittee; and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind.

The legislation calls for the U.S. to add 250 ships within the decade to the international fleet of U.S.-flagged vessels by establishing a Strategic Commercial Fleet Program, according to a summary of the bill from Garamendi’s office.

“The United States has fewer than 200 oceangoing vessels … of which only approximately 80 vessels participate in international commerce, compared with more than 5,500 Chinese documented vessels,” reads the legislation.

Sal Mercogliano, a former Military Sealift Command mariner and associate professor of history at Campbell University, applauded the bill for seeking to address workforce development in the maritime sector and encouraging people to attend the state maritime academies.

“This is the first major piece of maritime reform since the Merchant Marine Act of 1970,” Mercogliano told USNI News. “So you’re talking about 55 years since we’ve had anything like this.”

For example, within six months of the legislation becoming law, the head of the U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd) must provide lawmakers with a report analyzing what the maritime academies require to boost enrollment and turn out more mariners, according to the text of the bill.

Mercogliano said an improved commercial sector will help U.S. Navy shipbuilding.

“If we can get commercial shipbuilding back into U.S. yards, that will benefit Navy shipbuilding because what you’ll see is you won’t have the hiring and firing of shipyard workers as contracts come and go,” he said. “If you can create a stable commercial industrial base that’s building ships, repairing ships, then you’re not as dependent on government contracts to start shipbuilding, and stop shipbuilding and then restart, hire and fire.”

By Professional Mariner Staff