Posted on September 14, 2026
Over 150 sailors, naval officers and state and local officials convened in Vallejo on Thursday for a summit on legislation that aims to reverse course on the country’s flailing shipbuilding industry.
The consensus among panelists: The U.S. needs more ships. And it’s a matter of economic and national security.
“The maritime industry is critical,” said U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, D-Fairfield, speaking at Thursday’s shipbuilding summit in a conference room at Cal Poly Maritime Academy.
Garamendi said, “Study after study shows the United States military cannot sustain action in the Pacific. It can’t do it.”
Garamendi, who called the meeting, represents Solano County and parts of Contra Costa County. He and a bipartisan group of representatives introduced the SHIPS Act, which stands for Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security for America Act.
If passed, the law would cut red tape for the maritime industry, create more jobs, funnel port fees into a maritime security trust fund, establish a Maritime Security Board with a presidentially appointed advisor, and grant incentives for shipbuilding in the U.S.
Maritime activity nets over $5 trillion for the U.S. economy and supports millions of jobs, according to panelists. But failing to build ships to transport all that cargo is costing the country its independence.
In the 1970s, the United States built around 20 ships a year. Today, that average is closer to three — 0.11% of global shipbuilding, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan think tank in Washington, D.C.
In the post-World War II era, more than 1,000 commercial ships flew the American flag, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration. Today, fewer than 200 commercial ships fly the U.S. flag.
“We have to put the American economy and the American maritime system back together again. They’ve become divorced,” said panelist Stephen Carmel, Administrator of the Maritime Administration.
“National security rests on economic security,” said Carmel.
The U.S. currently operates less than 300 battleships. But there’s only a handful of facilities in the country that can build more. And a lot of them are old.
Garamendi hopes to get the SHIPS Act across the finish line this year, he said in an interview following Thursday’s panel. In February, President Donald Trump introduced the Maritime Action Plan, which echoes much of the SHIPS Act language, said Garamendi — a good sign.
“We’re on the cusp of a change,” he said.
China, noted several panelists, has far outpaced U.S. maritime efforts. China is taking shipbuilding commissions from countries all over the world, assembling thousands of commercial ships each year — more than half of global shipbuilding, according to the CSIS report.
“He who controls the seas controls the world,” said naval Rear Adm. Thomas “Jack” Moreau, quoting 1800s naval officer Alfred Mahan.
Repairs present their own problems. Panelist and Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson of the U.S. Navy said he typically sends ships from the West Coast all the way down to the Panama Canal and back up to the East Coast for maintenance.
“There are simply not enough repair yards that do the work that needs to be done,” said Nicholson.
REVIVING SHIPYARDS IN THE BAY
Aldrin Udasco, a senior at Cal Poly Maritime Academy in Vallejo, was glad to hear the push for jobs. Udasco showed up to the summit alongside a few other students. He grew up in San Jose and came to Vallejo to study international strategy.
For some of his peers, he said, the future of getting work in the industry is uncertain.
Udasco mentioned the Trump administration’s broad waiver in March of the Jones Act — a law that requires commercial ships traveling between American ports be U.S.-built and owned and run by a crew of majority U.S. citizens. With the waiver, some fear a blow to job opportunities.
“Especially with our engineers and our deck cadets. They’re particularly shaky about the maritime industry,” said Udasco.
Nicholson said a push for shipyards would not only support the U.S. Navy, but would also spur the creation of good paying, steady jobs for a range of skilled trades.
“I would like to see this industry continue to grow in places like the Bay Area,” said Nicholson. “The Bay Area is a great place that was once phenomenal at this.”
Today, the Bay Area’s aging ports need repairs, and once booming shipyards have shuttered. Earlier this year, Mare Island’s dry dock closed after losing out on a big contract to repair a U.S. Coast Guard ship.
“Mare Island is one of the most valuable maritime assets on the West Coast — not used,” said Garamendi. He and other lawmakers are looking into reviving the shipyard, he said.
In August, billionaire-backed real estate group California Forever helped push proposed legislation that would enable construction of a new shipyard in the Collinsville area of Solano County. The proposal went belly up after the county Board of Supervisors voted to take more time to assess the rushed version of the law, missing the state’s legislative deadline.
“There’s a future opportunity at Collinsville,” said Garamendi. “It could happen — it’s got a ways to go.”
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