The Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security for America Act is more popularly known as the SHIPS Act. This clever acronym might be the most successful part of the whole endeavor.
Despite bipartisan support, it is my opinion that this is an act that, if not doomed to fail, will struggle to have any significant impact.
The aim of the bill is to revitalize American shipbuilding, but the scope of it appears totally retaliatory to the dominance of China. More than one-third of the world’s commercial tonnage has been built in China, and if you aggregate all the Asian shipbuilding nations (primarily Korea and Japan alongside China) you get to a 90% dominance.
The SHIPS Act plan is to build 250 ships in 10 years, but the foot not only is not on the accelerator, but the car is not even full of petrol! The shipyards are not capable, the trained manpower does not exist, and the capital is not close to being in place — and won’t be without massive construction and operating subsidies. Funding through the application of tariffs under S. 301 might create a small kitty, but certainly not enough to fund such an aggressive program.
The need for more military hardware will surely take precedence and delay any commercial shipping growth. The hawks will have their way, and the US military will be adamant in trying to level the military tonnage playing field with China.
Success may be achieved in small increments, and the recent order with the Finnish shipyards of polar suitable coast guard cutters is an example of where progress might be made.
The only really good news is that this is being discussed and debated on the highest stages of government.