Posted on July 15, 2026
A nation’s maritime capacity is determined by its shipping capacity (how much cargo it can move around the world), its military capacity (the extent to which it can enforce laws, secure trade routes, and protect coastal environments), and its port capacity (how many ships and containers its ports can handle at one time).
Driving growth in any of these areas requires robust domestic shipbuilding operations and shipyard modernization, sectors the United States is actively seeking to revitalize. What is the current state of the US shipyard industry, and is it possible for the nation to compete with China, which emerged as the world’s leading maritime power in the last two decades?
The State of China Shipbuilding
In 2025, China defended its position as the world’s leading shipbuilder for the 16th year running, accounting for more than 56% of global shipbuilding output by deadweight tonnage.
Six out of the world’s top 10 shipbuilding firms currently hail from China, with the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) alone building more tonnage annually than the entire US shipbuilding industry has produced since the end of World War II.
The outputs of China’s shipbuilding firms support the country’s vast cargo and container shipping industry, as well as its military operations. China’s ports handled more than 50 million metric tons of cargo and about 970,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers every day in 2025. Meanwhile, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is the world’s largest naval force, with an active fleet of 700 vessels, including 234 major warships.
China’s shipbuilding industry owes its rapid rise to dominance to decades of strategic, state-backed funding. In the early 2000s, for example, China’s Party Central Committee and the State Council identified shipbuilding as a key industry for development, setting a target for the nation to become the world’s biggest shipbuilder by 2015. Between 2006 and 2013, the government spent an estimated $90 billion subsidizing the shipbuilding industry, equating to 15-20% of the cost of each new ship.
The State of US Shipbuilding
US shipbuilding paints a very different picture. The nation dominated global shipbuilding during both world wars, constructing vessels at a scale and speed previously unheard of and ultimately amassing 60% of the world’s shipping tonnage. However, production declined rapidly after World War II, thanks to waning demand, high production costs, and misguided policy choices.
Today, less than 1% of new commercial ships are built on domestic soil. The nation is home to just 66 total shipyards, comprising eight active shipbuilding yards, 11 shipyards with build positions, 22 repair yards with drydocking, and 25 topside repair yards.
As a result, the US relies heavily on foreign-built ships to secure global trade routes, build supply chain resilience, and project military power. Around 80% of international trade travels by sea, as does 90% of the armed forces’ supplies and equipment.
Low maritime capacity also means the US only has 190 flagged merchant vessels, many of which were built abroad. A merchant vessel’s flag represents the ship’s nationality, meaning the ship is under the control of the registered country. By contrast, China has more than 7,000 flagged vessels.
US reliance on foreign shipbuilders wasn’t always considered a major problem, but rising geopolitical tensions have exposed supply chain vulnerabilities and raised concerns about national security, military readiness, and long-term economic prosperity.
In 2026, President Trump signed a historic executive order to restore US maritime dominance. The Maritime Action Plan states that the nation is “decisively moving towards a new Maritime Golden Age by expanding commercial shipbuilding capacity, building a resilient workforce, and strengthening alliances that advance both our nation’s economic prosperity and its national security.” The Trump Administration also established a new Office of Maritime and Industrial Capacity at the White House National Security Council.
Growing US Maritime Capacity
The US is working to expand its maritime capacity via the following methods:
Government Policy
President Trump’s (MAP) calls for policies that “modernize government procurement processes and streamline regulations to accelerate shipbuilding and reduce costs.” This includes eliminating “redundant” or “unduly burdensome” maritime regulations that make shipbuilding more complex, time-consuming, and costly. New “Maritime Prosperity Zones”, for example, will accelerate the permit process for waterfront building projects.
Government Funding
Increasing domestic shipyard capacity is essential for scaling up commercial ship production, but that requires significant funding and additional resources.
Fortunately, the MAP includes a Maritime Security Trust Fund, which will provide consistent funding for maritime programs, as well as a shipbuilding financial incentives program to boost private investment in US shipbuilding.
Flagged Merchant Vessels
The MAP includes plans to increase the number of commercial vessels trading internationally under the US flag, as well as domestically between the nation’s ports. This will improve global competitiveness, strengthen the economy, enhance supply chain resilience, support national security, and create additional jobs.
Strategic Supplier Partnerships
Some existing US shipyards have limited manufacturing capabilities and poor supplier networks, not least because many critical ship components, including steel and engines, are difficult to acquire from domestic suppliers. The Germany-based company Everllence, for example, holds about 70–80% of the engine design market for large containerships, tankers, and bulkers. With this in mind, new and expanding shipyards must forge strategic partnerships with overseas suppliers.
During a temporary transitional period, the MAP will allow foreign shipbuilders to construct vessels for the US commercial sector in their home countries. A potential bridge strategy would see the first ships of a contract built in the foreign shipbuilder’s home shipyard, with later investments made in US facilities.
Strategic Commercial Partnerships
Most US shipping companies do not use vessels built on domestic soil to transport their goods, often favoring European and East Asian shipping operators. Nurturing a domestic shipping industry will create increased demand for US vessels and inject more capital into the industry.
Workforce Development
In 2025, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that all seven of the large US shipbuilders were experiencing recruitment and retention issues. With a generation of long-term shipyard workers soon to retire, the US must bolster its maritime talent pipeline.
One of the four pillars of the MAP is reforming workforce education and training, which includes expanding funding for existing Maritime Administration (MARAD) programs and creating new maritime academies.
Meanwhile, a recent McKinsey analysis outlines five critical actions for shipbuilding stakeholders to improve the maritime talent pool: strengthening the value proposition for shipbuilding careers, bolstering the talent pipeline from educational institutions to shipyards, encouraging better skill building through educational partnerships, modernizing talent management, and sustaining success by improving ROI for all stakeholders.
Automation
While some US shipbuilders favor legacy shipbuilding methods, leading overseas manufacturers are embracing automation and modularity, which reduces construction time and enables parallel production streams.
The MAP details plans to broaden eligibility for the Federal Ship Financing Program, which supports US shipyards in modernizing their facilities. It will also invest in automation, AI-driven design tools, robotics, and advanced manufacturing to boost production efficiency.
US Companies Leading the Charge
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII)
Formed in 2011 as a divestiture from Northrop Grumman, HII is the nation’s largest military shipbuilding company. It operates two major shipyards, Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia and Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi.
The Newport shipyard has designed and constructed more than 800 ships for the US Navy and various commercial customers. It is currently developing the Gerald R. Ford-class, the first new aircraft carrier design in decades. The Ingalls site designs, builds, and maintains amphibious ships, destroyers, and cutters for the US Navy.
To accelerate manufacturing time and facilitate industrial-scale production, HII is currently establishing a series of specialized modular production lines across multiple states. This allows the shipbuilder to supervise the build of pre-outfitted modules and hull units across a network of partner shipyards, before assembling its final vessels at its Newport and Ingalls sites.
General Dynamics
Founded in 1952, General Dynamics is a multinational aerospace and defense contractor. Its Marine Systems segment is the leading designer and builder of nuclear-powered submarines and a leader in surface combatant and auxiliary ship design and construction for the US Navy. The division operates three major shipyards:
- General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB): Headquartered in Connecticut, GDEB is the prime contractor and lead shipyard on all Navy nuclear-powered submarine programs.
- General Dynamics Bath Iron Works: Located in Maine, Bath Iron Works is a leader in designing and building US Navy ships, as well as providing maintenance, modernization, and lifecycle support services.
- General Dynamics NASSCO: Headquartered in California, this serves as the only major full-service shipyard on the West Coast. NASSCO specializes in the design and construction of auxiliary and support ships, oil tankers, and dry cargo carriers, as well as a major provider of repair services.
Davie Defense
Founded in 2025, Davie Defense is the US subsidiary of international maritime group INOCEA and sister company to Canada’s Davie Shipbuilding.
The company looks set to rapidly transform US shipbuilding after acquiring and modernizing two Gulf Copper shipyards in Galveston and Port Arthur, Texas. The first phase of the Gulf Copper project, which began in June 2026, is due for completion in 2028 and is projected to cost up to $1 billion. It will create approximately 2,400 new jobs, with a broader statewide economic impact estimated to support up to 7,000 jobs.
Earlier this year, Davie Defense finalized a $3.5 billion contract with the US Coast Guard to build and deliver five Arctic Security Cutters. Davie is one of the few shipbuilders capable of rapidly delivering Arctic-ready ships. With Russia currently operating around 50 Arctic-capable icebreakers, compared with the US’s three, expanding the icebreaker fleet is considered a national priority. Three of these vessels will be built at the upgraded Gulf Copper shipyards.
Saronic Port Alpha (Texas)
Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Saronic Technologies develops cutting-edge unmanned surface vehicles that advance maritime security and domain awareness.
The company will develop the most advanced shipyard in the world, which will be capable of building Autonomous Surface Vessels (ASVs) at scale. It is conducting a nationwide search for a home for its $3.2 billion project, dubbed Port Alpha, with the Port of Brownsville, Texas, currently in consideration.
“With Port Alpha, we will bring a first-principles approach to shipbuilding and will strip away inefficiencies, optimize workflows, and create a production system that maximizes quality, scalability, and speed,” says Saronic Technologies.
