America’s Shipbuilding Industry Is on Its Deathbed

The collapse of the United States’ shipbuilding industry “poses major threats” to its national security, Open Markets Institute reported Wednesday.

• A measly 0.13 percent of the tens of thousands of large vessels globally are built in the U.S.
• 60 percent of all new shipbuilding orders are fulfilled by China.
• China boasts more than 200 times America’s shipbuilding capacity.
• The U.S. would be severely under-equipped in the event of a conflict in the Pacific, currently having access to about 15 of the 100 fuel tankers it would need.

Dependent: Not only are most U.S. goods shipped in foreign-built vessels, but those vessels are owned and operated overwhelmingly by European and Asian shipping cartels. At present, these cartels control about 90 percent of America’s container shipping trade.

Meanwhile, the majority of ship-unloading equipment is Chinese-made, as are the bulk of shipping containers and other transportation equipment. This leaves the U.S. dependent on foreign ships operated by foreign companies to deliver essential goods that will then be transported by trucks made of predominately foreign parts.

The time has come for the United States to radically rethink how we regulate this entire system of maritime transportation services, industrial capacities and human resources. The list of problems created by the failed maritime policies of the last generation helps to illustrate both the magnitude and extent of the crisis, as well as the need for rapid policy change.
—Open Markets Institute

Besieged: Bible prophecy warns that if Americans will not look to God as their protector, their enemies will soon take advantage of their economic and trade vulnerabilities. The death of America’s shipbuilding industry will drive another nail in the coffin of America’s global economic dominance, leaving the nation prey to hostile powers.

To understand, read “America Is Being Besieged Economically.”