Collapse of U.S. shipbuilding poses national and economic security risks | 60 Minutes
In a Nutshell
U.S. shipbuilding has collapsed due to decades of neglect, producing just a few cargo ships annually versus China's 1,000, posing national security risks like vulnerability to China's merchant fleet blockade in conflicts. Hanwha Ocean, a South Korean firm, acquired the outdated Philadelphia Shipyard for $100 million, investing billions to modernize it with automation, robots, and Korean trainers amid labor shortages, aiming for 20 ships yearly and even U.S. Navy submarines. The Jones Act blocks domestic LNG transport on non-U.S.-built ships (none exist), inflating costs, while Trump tariffs on steel and immigration restrictions exacerbate the crisis despite White House revival efforts.
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The war in Iran highlights the importance of ships, including warships and cargo vessels like those carrying oil or gas trapped near the Strait of Hormuz. American shipbuilding is in shambles due to decades of short-sighted policies and neglect. The submarine building program is sluggish, and commercial shipbuilding is nearly extinct. China makes roughly a thousand cargo ships a year; the U.S. makes maybe three.
The Trump administration called this a national security crisis.
Philadelphia shipyard is one of only two left in the U.S. building large commercial cargo ships. Ships built here helped win American independence in the 18th century and World War II in the 20th.
$8 million worth of floating defense.
The shipyard has become a symbol of American industrial decline, a money loser falling decades behind global rivals. It still uses a crane from 1942.
A lot of times, people call it a dinosaur.
What else is a dinosaur?
Almost everything that you've seen out there.
David Kim, the new head of the Philly shipyard, works for Hanwha Ocean (Hana), a giant ship maker from South Korea, the country making most ships after China. Hanwha bought the yard in 2024 for $100 million, then poured in another $100 million, and tasked Kim, a Korean-American born and bred in Texas, to bring it into the 21st century.
How many ships do you actually make here?
Here at the Hanwha Philly shipyard, we deliver one to one and a half ships a year versus our yard in Korea where they deliver basically one a week.
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