NDIA POLICY POINTS SHIPBUILDING
Comments (5)
To revitalize the Navy you need shipyards that are capable of building both Naval and Commercial ocean going ships. You need a consistent build program for the navy and you need to require US built, manned and flagged commercial ships carry US import and export cargoes at a significantly higher rate than they do currently. China has graving docks over 1500' long capable of 500000 DWT ships being constructed, thats over 2 times the biggest ships we have in the US Navy. They currently build hundreds of oceangoing commercial ships each year . We are lucky to build a single commercial ship. With robust commercial shipyards your supply chain specialty manufacturing comes back and you have a large trained workforce to build and repair all types of vessels.
Captain William S. Harrison, United States Merchant Marine at 10:41 AMWhat happened to the world's formerly #1 industrial power -- the USA? Two fatal mistakes GLOBALISM and FREE TRADE. Reviving US shipbuilding is very simple. We need to utterly reject globalism and free trade. (1) Cargo carried by foreign flagged and/or build ships will be subjected to a 50% in additional tariffs and shall pay for fuel at twice the price as is sold to US vessels. Practically, it means that all exports to the USA will be carried by US built and flagged ships. (2) Uncle Sam will spend $10 billion a year on FREE INFRASTRUCTURE gifted to US shipyards for the next 25 years. (3) All US shipbuilders and Shipyard workers are exempt from Income Taxes. (4) For the first 5 years, Uncle Sam will pay for half the price of every commercial ship build by US shipyards, reducing to 40% in the next five and decreasing by 10% every five years. (5) Uncle Sam will spend $10 billion a year of R&D of new gas turbines, diesel engines and podded propulsors by US firms which they are free to sell commercially. (6) Mercantilist trade policy will be focused on reducing deficits and generating surpluses, with trade volume and free movement of goods being totally ignored. We'll tariff goods from individual countries based on our trade deficits with them. If you want tariff free trade with the USA you must buy from us as much as you sell to us, period. Otherwise, we'll ratchet up tariffs with no limits until the deficit goes away even if it means zero trade with you. If the WTO doesn't like it, well, it's past time we withdraw from that suicide pact anyway!
Dwight Looi at 12:22 AMCan't do it without money. The economy needs to be a top priority.
Lepke Buchalter at 11:10 PM
While the author has succinctly addressed the shipbuilding industrial base issues being faced by the public and private shipyards, he fails to recognize that the shipbuilding supplier base is facing its own issues that also impact the ability of the US Navy to get its ships built. The increased use of foreign suppliers, despite significant interest by Congress to strengthen existing Buy America requirements, has depleted the domestic supply chain to a point where companies continue to exit this market.
Industries involved in the manufacturing of shipbuilding components were among the hardest hit by the global shift in the industrial base over the past 20 years due to a lack of a clear and consistent policy. Since 2000, these industries experienced a combined decline of over 25,000 establishments in the United States. Expanding the number of companies involved in Navy shipbuilding is important to maintaining a healthy industrial base. The pandemic exacerbated the challenge to sustain and expand the shipbuilding supplier base, focusing the spotlight on a serious national security threat due to lack of transparency in the second, third and fourth tier of the supply chain across all DOD programs.
The bottom line here is that most shipbuilding components are procured by shipyards, not the government. Buy American (BA) requirements apply to systems, not components. Current Buy American policies do very little for the domestic shipbuilding design and supplier base. We need clear policy direction that BA clauses in contracts specifically apply to shipbuilding design and component manufacture.
The national security justification for building ships in the US is clear—whether it relates to sensitive nuclear technology, to security of the supply chain, or to maintenance of critical capabilities and skills in our industrial base. That same national security justification should apply to our U.S. base of vessel component suppliers and vessel designers as well.
We need specific policies and laws that will ensure the shipbuilding supplier base and its skilled workforce can deliver and sustain the larger fleet the Navy needs in a manner that provides a highly-skilled workforce, transparency and security of the supply chain.
Lived and worked in China Shipyards many years. The US is not capable of and never will be capable of producing commercial or naval vessels other than the few low quality they currently produce.
Bob Irving at 2:37 PM