Advertisement
Outside In | Never mind China, restoring US shipbuilding glory is a pipe dream
- Rebuilding the US shipbuilding sector will take decades, if at all possible, and diluting China’s dominance will mainly benefit shipbuilding powerhouses like South Korea and Japan
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
6
In March last year, The Wall Street Journal captured the state of US paranoia with the headline, “Pentagon sees giant cargo cranes as possible Chinese spying tools”. It seems once the paranoia virus is embedded, there can be only one direction of travel. If you believe China is intent on undermining and overthrowing the US and the family of Western democracies, it seems no evidence can expunge that belief.
The paranoid’s conviction is that the Chinese are using all means possible to subvert the US and its citizens. The latest flurry is emerging around a suite of “threats” to global supply chains – in particular shipbuilding, containers, port cranes and logistics management software.
Two new moves are a February executive order by US President Joe Biden to strengthen cybersecurity at US ports and a March petition by the United Steelworkers union calling for a trade investigation into Chinese commercial shipbuilding aimed at stopping China-made ships from using US ports.
Advertisement
The first involves a related US$20 billion of investment to improve port infrastructure. The second involves efforts to resurrect the moribund US shipbuilding industry. The initiatives smack of tilting at windmills. But they are also driven by alarm over China’s overwhelming dominance in shipping and logistics.
The numbers are stark. The latest UN data shows China as the leading shipbuilder with 47 per cent of the global gross tonnage of new commercial vessels in 2022. Together with South Korea and Japan, the three countries accounted for 93 per cent of the total. Put another way, China built 1,000 ocean-going vessels last year while the US produced 10.
Advertisement
At a time of post-pandemic “de-risking” and perfectly reasonable efforts to ensure resiliency in the world’s supply chains, such a scale of US shipbuilding dependency is a matter of concern. But are its latest responses practical or achievable?
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x