Breaking Down the Trump Administration's Maritime Action Plan

A Blueprint for Rebuilding U.S. Maritime Strength

The U.S. Maritime Action Plan (MAP), released in February, has drawn broad support across the maritime sector as the first comprehensive roadmap for reviving American shipbuilding and the broader maritime industrial base. According to a review published by Maritime Executive, written by Jack O’Connell, the 35-page document — co-authored by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and OMB Director Russell Vought — lays out where the U.S. maritime sector stands today and how policymakers intend to move it forward.

The starting point, as the MAP’s authors describe it, is sobering: less than one percent of new commercial vessels are built in the United States, and the country’s 66 shipyards — only eight of which can handle construction of vessels over 400 feet — fall well short of the capacity needed to meet national shipbuilding priorities. The report frames this as both an economic and security vulnerability, since American trade currently relies almost entirely on foreign-built, foreign-crewed, and foreign-flagged tonnage.

Four Pillars of the Plan

The MAP rests on four pillars: rebuilding shipbuilding capacity, reforming maritime workforce training, protecting the maritime industrial base, and strengthening national security resilience.

Pillar 1 targets shipyard expansion through new Maritime Prosperity Zones — a planned 100 of them over the next decade — along with funding tools such as Title XI loan guarantees, public-private partnerships, and a proposed per-kilogram tax on cargo carried aboard non-U.S.-flagged ships, which would feed a new Maritime Security Trust Fund. The plan also envisions partnerships with shipbuilding leaders like South Korea and Japan, citing Hanwha’s acquisition of Philly Shipyard as an early example, along with reflagging foreign-built vessels into the U.S. fleet as a near-term stopgap.

Pillar 2 addresses workforce development, bolstering the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, the six state maritime academies, and vocational trade programs that train welders, pipefitters, and electricians. A proposed military-to-mariner program would streamline the path for veterans to earn mariner credentials, while a mariner incentive program could offer financial perks, including a possible tax exemption on income earned on foreign trade routes.

Pillar 3 focuses on protecting demand for U.S.-flagged shipping through trade and procurement policy. Recommendations include raising Cargo Preference requirements for federal cargo from the current 50 percent toward 100 percent, requiring major exporting economies to carry a growing share of U.S.-bound containerized cargo on qualifying U.S. vessels, and introducing a Land Port Maintenance Tax modeled on the existing Harbor Maintenance Tax.

Pillar 4 ties the first three together under a national security and industrial resilience umbrella, covering streamlined federal procurement and Arctic-focused initiatives, among other measures.

What It Means for Owners, Managers, and Surveyors

For ship owners and managers, several elements of the MAP carry practical implications well before any shipyard breaks ground on a new hull. The plan’s emphasis on reflagging foreign vessels into the U.S. fleet as an interim measure means a wave of existing tonnage — much of it built and operated under different flag-state and class regimes — could soon need to meet U.S. documentation, condition, and certification standards. That transition typically depends on thorough condition surveys and compliance inspections to confirm a vessel’s structural and mechanical state matches what the new flag and class society require.

Similarly, if Cargo Preference requirements expand and new maritime preference rules push more cargo onto U.S.-flagged ships, demand for these vessels — and scrutiny of their seaworthiness and cargo-handling readiness — will likely rise in parallel. Charterers and cargo interests relying on a growing pool of U.S.-flag tonnage, some of it reflagged rather than newly built, will have good reason to insist on independent pre-purchase and condition surveys to verify a vessel’s actual state before it enters service under new requirements.

A Long Road from Plan to Practice

As the review notes, the MAP is dense with acronyms and bureaucratic language, and many of its proposals — from the import cargo tax to the Land Port Maintenance Tax — would require further legislative and regulatory action before taking effect. Still, the plan represents a rare moment of consensus on the need to rebuild American shipbuilding capacity. Whether that translates into near-term fleet growth or a longer transitional period relying on reflagged and allied-built vessels, the practical demands on inspection, survey, and compliance verification are likely to grow in step with any expansion of the U.S.-flag fleet.