U.S. transportation secretary calls for more shipbuilding during visit to Philly shipyard

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U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy talked about the need for more shipbuilding to be based in the United States during his visit to the Navy Yard in Philadelphia on Monday morning.

Duffy spoke in the shadow of a ship built at the shipyard, saying there’s a big disparity between the U.S. and other countries when it comes to the production of ships.

“In 2022, America produced five vessels — China produced 1,800,” he said. “We have to build ships again in America.”

Philadelphia’s shipyard is now owned by Hanwha, a Korean company that bought the facility in 2024. David Kim is the local CEO and said the company can scale up production if orders are there for more ships.

“We think there’s a lot of good we can bring, in terms of technology, in terms of processes, expertise building here in the U.S., creating jobs here in the U.S.,” he said.

Kim said Hanwha doesn’t have the capacity to build more ships with newer techniques and equipment, and that the shipyard already has a multiyear backlog on construction, but that it could add capacity if warranted.

The yard is currently in the midst of a five-ship contract for teaching vessels that will be delivered to marine academies. That contract still has another year to go, but Duffy said the vessels have all been built on time and on budget.

Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pennsylvania, said more ships being built could mean more work for the Philadelphia region.

“These are incredibly great-paying jobs, we’re going to go from 1,500 employees to many thousands more,” he said.

That could require an infusion of federal cash in the form of incentives for domestic shipbuilding. Duffy wouldn’t say if President Donald Trump supported those incentives, but earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order calling for more shipbuilding in the U.S.

Earlier this year, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly joined U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pennsylvania, in a visit to the shipyard to draw support for the SHIPS for America Act, which he said will encourage investment and modernization in the shipbuilding industry.