‘Desperate’ US Seeks Japan’s & South Korea’s Help To Restart Its Defunct Shipyards; Keep Pace With China

The US approach focuses on tapping Asian funding, engineering know-how, and shipbuilding experience to expand its shipbuilding capacity, Nikkeia Asia reported.

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Emanuel said, “There’s a closed plant in Philadelphia. There’s a closed Navy shipyard in Long Beach. And there are a couple of others…We wanted to see if Mitsubishi and other Japanese companies would be interested in potentially investing and reopening one of those shipyards and being part of building Navy, commercial, and Coast Guard ships.”

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Emanuel had also hinted in January this year that for US Navy warships to remain in Asian waters and be prepared for any future confrontation, the United States and Japan are attempting to reach an agreement enabling Japanese shipyards to do routine maintenance and overhauls.

Over the past 40 years, China has developed a remarkable commercial shipbuilding industry, cautioned Del Toro at an event. “We’ve lost that capability from about the 1980s when we left it open to market forces.”

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The US has seen a very significant dip in its shipbuilding capacity. Nine of the 13 public naval shipyards the United States formerly had are closed. Several closed shipyards are now national parks, naval air stations, or container terminals. However, a few could be brought back for ship repair or construction.

The urgency to resuscitate these redundant shipyards stems from the threat posed by China’s massive shipbuilding industry, producing many naval vessels that could be used to project dominance in far seas and deployed against the US and its Indo-Pacific allies in the event of a conflict.

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According to the latest Pentagon’s annual report to Congress on Chinese military and security developments, the Chinese Navy possesses an estimated 350 vessels, while the US Navy battle force has 293 warships.

The yawning gap of 60 hulls between the two navies is expected to grow every five years until 2035, when China will have an estimated 475 naval ships compared to 305-317 US warships. Notably, China has inducted as many as 150 warships in the last ten years.

H/T: Johnsonwkchoi

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U.S. seeks to revive idled shipyards with help of Japan, South Korea – Nikkei Asia

But while quick repairs on damages suffered through deployment are allowed, like the Big Horn at Mitsubishi, U.S. law prohibits U.S.-based ships to undergo full-scale overhaul, repair or maintenance at a shipyard outside the U.S. or Guam. Changing such a law — put in place to protect U.S. jobs — may face headwinds, especially in an election year.

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Both tours were led by the companies’ respective CEOs. The shipbuilders expressed “strong interest” in establishing U.S. subsidiaries and investing in shipyards in the U.S., the Navy said in a press release.

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U.S. Navy ships are currently built by seven private shipbuilders, including two non-American players: Italy’s Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Wisconsin and Australia’s Austal USA in Alabama. The involvement of two international shipbuilders serves as a precedent as the Asian players contemplate entry.

Maintenance of the most sensitive nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines are conducted exclusively at four public naval shipyards — in Virginia, Maine, Washington and Hawaii.

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Emanuel said that when he started working for former President Bill Clinton in the early 1990s, there were 10 to 11 shipyards that built naval ships. “We’re down to seven and our work is growing. You’re not going to get the same volume out of seven that you got out of 11. You need to get back to 11 or 10.”