1 SHIPBUILDING

The United States (U.S.) shipbuilding industrial complex—ship manufacturing, maintenance and repair, and component suppliers—builds, delivers and services the world’s most capable, most technologically-advanced sea-going military vessels. As capable as the U.S. shipbuilding industry is in responding to the world’s most demanding National Security Strategy, the same cannot be said in the global commercial marketplace. The combination of heavy subsidies in shipyards by foreign governments, U.S. labor rates that are as high as twenty times that of other international shipbuilders, a lack of economies of scale, inefficiencies from excess shipyard capacity, and less-than optimal manufacturing and management practices leaves the U.S. commercial shipbuilders incapable of competing in the global commercial marketplace, especially for large ships. Accepting this reality, the question then becomes what can and should be done through national policies and practices to foster commercial shipbuilding and help retain our global sea power projection capacities. CAPT Robert Wood, US