Towards a real shipbuilding strategy

Note: This text was originally published in the journal of the Association des Économistes du Québec (ASDEQ). It was also published in the Journal le Soleil in August 2018. The article is being republished because it is still a current topic. American shipbuilding industry A report published in 2015 by researchers at the National Defense University in Washington found something significant. The American shipbuilding industry faces competitive problems. These issues arise when compared to Asian competition. Only a few Asian countries dominate the commercial shipbuilding market. China, Japan, and South Korea now hold more than 80% of the global market share. The advantage of Asian countries is mainly due to low labor costs, protectionism and government subsidies. This advantage is such that, currently, the American industry lives almost exclusively from government contracts, i.e. military orders, and barely 15% of its revenues are linked to exports. One of the report’s key recommendations is to « ensure…