As the U.S. shipbuilding industry was left to decay, China quickly filled the gap and has come to outpace the U.S. in its ability to churn out commercial vessels, a Thursday report from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) revealed.
Beijing’s dominance over the commercial shipbuilding sector, as well as other areas, “increases economic security risks” and harms American businesses and taxpayers, the USTR report says. China has massively increased its maritime output over the last decade, increasing its share of global ship tonnage from just 5% in 1999 to over 50% in 2023.
“Today, the U.S. ranks 19th in the world in commercial shipbuilding, and we build less than 5 ships each year, while the PRC is building more than 1,700 ships. In 1975, the United States ranked number one, and we were building more than 70 ships a year,” USTR Ambassador Katherine Tai said in a press release Thursday. “Beijing’s targeted dominance of these sectors undermines fair, market-oriented competition, increases economic security risks, and is the greatest barrier to revitalization of U.S. industries, as well as the communities that rely on them. These findings under Section 301 set the stage for urgent action to invest in America and strengthen our supply chains.”
China’s market share for industries such as high-technology ships, maritime engineering equipment and “green” ship building have all increased substantially since 2011, prompting Beijing to set even more ambitious goals, according to the report. As a result, China’s shipbuilding market share increased from approximately 5% in 2000 to over 50% today.
For example, cranes made by Chinese company ZPMC make up roughly 80% of the seaport cranes across the U.S. A congressional investigation in September found that the ZPMC cranes’ diagnostic and tracking data could be accessed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), given that the country’s laws mandate that the company comply with the government.
The U.S. shipbuilding industry has atrophied in the wake of China’s rise, according to the report. U.S. ship deliveries have steadily declined since 1992 as shipbuilding companies like Avondale Shipyards and Bender Shipbuilding went out of business.
“From 2008 to 2021, the number of shipbuilding and repair production workers in the United States fell by 14.9 percent and the number of production hours worked fell by 19.5 percent,” the report reads. “Similarly, as fewer ships were built, U.S. domestic steel shipments to the shipbuilding and marine equipment industries decreased.”
The USTR’s inquiry was requested by six labor unions connected to the maritime and shipbuilding industry and related industries, according to the press release. Under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, the USTR can take action against practices it finds to be “unjustifiable, unreasonable, or discriminatory foreign government acts, policies, and practices that burden or restrict U.S. commerce,” according to the report.
The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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