U.S. Shipbuilding and Maritime Policy

Amid national-security concerns framed by the Trump administration, the U.S. is importing South Korean shipbuilding techniques and investment to revive a struggling commercial shipbuilding sector — notably Hanwha’s 2024 purchase of the Philadelphia shipyard for $100 million (with another $100M already invested and plans to spend up to $5 billion). Hanwha has sent 50 Korean trainers to Philly and aims to lift output from about 1–1.5 ships a year to as many as 20 while adding 7,000–10,000 workers, addressing severe skilled‑labor shortages and supply‑chain bottlenecks that currently make U.S. builds about twice as slow and roughly five times as expensive as in Asia.