What’s In The Bill That Aims To Revitalize America’s Decaying Naval Industry
As China's shipbuilding continues to operate in overdrive, the SHIPS Act seeks to rejuvenate America's eroding maritime industrial base.
Geoff Ziezulewicz
Posted 21 Hours Ago
US Navy ship in maintenance.
A sprawling, bipartisan proposal to rebuild America’s long-ailing shipbuilding industry was introduced by a group of lawmakers last week. Known as the Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security (SHIPS) for America Act, the ambitious bill seeks to overhaul and restore America’s military and civilian maritime capacity and capabilities. These industries have increasingly fallen behind over the decades, and concerns have grown urgent as China’s shipbuilding capacity continues to dwarf America’s in many respects.
“This is the first major piece of maritime reform since the Merchant Marine Act of 1970,” Sal Mercogliano, a former Military Sealift Command mariner and associate professor of history at Campbell University, told USNI News’ Mallory Shelbourne this week. “So you’re talking about 55 years since we’ve had anything like this.”
“By supporting shipbuilding, shipping, and workforce development, it will strengthen supply chains, reduce our reliance on foreign vessels, put Americans to work in good-paying jobs, and support the Navy and Coast Guard’s shipbuilding needs,” one of the bill’s co-sponsors, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a Navy veteran and the first U.S Merchant Marine Academy graduate elected to Congress, said in a statement.
https://www.twz.com/sea/whats-in-the-bill-that-aims-to-revitalize-americas-decaying-naval-industry
