During mid-February, the Trump administration put forward its Maritime Action Plan (MAP) as part of Executive Order No. 14269, “Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance.” There is a real need to increase investment in American shipbuilding and shipping, and the MAP lays out the critical actions required to accomplish this. It does not take much research into the current state of the US maritime industry to realize how significant a challenge this will be.

The US severely lags behind the leading countries in the maritime space. Over the last few decades, the number of ships built in the United States has been a very small fraction of those built in Asia. The discrepancy is staggering. China, South Korea, and Japan are the dominant shipbuilders globally, producing more than 90% of all commercial tonnage. China alone is estimated to have a shipbuilding capacity more than 200 times that of the United States. The US shipbuilding industry is heavily constrained by high costs and a focus on Jones Act-qualified vessels. Construction costs for large containerships in the United States, which for international commercial trade do not have to be Jones Act-qualified, can be four to five times higher than in China.

In addition to increasing US shipbuilding and shipping, the MAP also identifies the development of the US maritime workforce as a priority. The US Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) has established Centers of Excellence to support the development of the next generation of US mariners and maritime-related skilled laborers. Some of the cost constraints in US shipping and shipbuilding are directly related to labor supply in these fields, and the MAP aims to address the availability of skilled labor, both at sea and in shipbuilding. While the MAP does not specifically mention the Jones Act, some have speculated that potential changes to the Jones Act, or other laws that may be enacted, could negatively impact its status. This is something US mariners, vessel owners, shipbuilders, and other domestic maritime stakeholders will need to monitor closely.

All of us in the maritime trade should be optimistic about the MAP and the positive impacts it may have across our industries. The real implications for the OSV sector are not yet known or quantified, but there is reason for optimism about the potential benefits.