World Shipping Council: US needs long-term shipbuilding and shipping plan

The Trump administration needs to support a long-term shipbuilding and shipping plan to support a US maritime revival, according to Joe Kramek, President and CEO, World Shipping Council (WSC).

Kramek, who served for 28 years as a commissioned officer in the United States Coast Guard (USCG), spoke at the Port of Los Angeles Media Briefing on April 11, 2025.

Kramek welcomed the Trump administration’s decision not to institute expensive penalties on Chinese-built and owned vessels arriving at US ports as proposed by the US Trade Representative (USTR): “The World Shipping Council fully supports the administration's efforts to revitalize the US maritime industry. We are major players in the US maritime industry. We work with the Maritime Security Program and with the US Maritime Administration (MARAD). So, the latest developments seem to be encouraging … We saw the White House issue its Executive Order on maritime revitalization this week, and that order softened a draft that we had seen earlier that included, what I would say are draconian proposals by USTR. Those proposals are no longer in the White House's Executive Order, and instead, it leaves the matter to the USTR. We also saw encouraging statements by Ambassador Greer who heads USTR … where he said that they were looking closely at the proposals which tells us that perhaps they've listened to the over 500 comments that came into the docket with the vast majority of them opposing these proposals because of the economic harm that they would... put onto U.S. importers, exporters, and especially our farmers.”

Tariffs Are a Problem

Kramek was critical of the flurry of tariffs instituted by the Trump administration: “Shippers are reacting to these tariffs and particularly on the Transpacific trade between Asia and the United States. … When you have tariff rates of 125% to 145%, it effectively shuts down trade ... So, we have seen reports in the trade press of reduced purchases by shippers or a ‘wait and see’ attitude to see (if) some negotiations take place to perhaps smooth this out. What we have presently is two things that both traders and markets hate: … uncertainty and unpredictability. And so, we hope we can … get beyond that.”

Clear & Long-Term Goals & Signals to Investors

Kramek went on to argue that the Trump administration needs to establish clear goals for U.S. maritime revival: “What exactly does that mean revival? People who study this closely over at the U.S. Maritime Administration … first must figure out … what it is exactly trying to do on the shipbuilding front. Does it want to be producing 10% of container vessels in U.S. shipyards and sell them on a par with the Asian shipyards in Korea, Japan, and China that are producing them right now?”

He said that a long-term investment will be necessary to attract investors with a clear policy: “You have to have some type of long-term signal to people who are investors … there is going be an (order) book of business … over the next 10 years at a shipyard. That is how shipyards work … We have none of those things because …. there's just a lot of whipsawing going on, and so it has not sent the business community that level of certainty … And nor is there a plan. Now the President's Executive Order calls for a plan to be submitted, so we will look forward … to working with the administration on what that plan can look like … but we have a lot of unknowns.”

And one of the unknowns is where the merchant mariners will come from. Kramek pointed out that the US has a serious mariner shortage, and that issue must also be addressed: “There's a tremendous shortage of … US mariners. So, if you have … a view of how many US flag ships you want operating on the water you also have to get in touch … with the US maritime schools that are producing these mariners to increase output.”

IMO Decarbonization

Consistent with the theme of long-term goals for shipping and shipbuilding is the need for the United States to address the move toward decarbonization of ships that the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) has just adopted.

While the IMO regulations require a gradual reduction in the amount of so-called greenhouse gases (GHG) ships can emit that contribute to extreme weather. The goal is aimed at reducing GHG emissions and getting to near net zero by 2050. That almost certainly means weaning vessels off oil, the fuel used by the vast majority of the world’s ships today.

Kramek and the WSC welcomed the new IMO rules: “Late last night they did reach an agreement on a global framework to push towards near zero emissions for the shipping sector by 2050 … This is a … monumental breakthrough that many people did not think would occur … WSC’s members have always been on the forefront of this work, but with billions of dollars in investments, we have 200 dual fuel ships already on the water and 700 more in the order book. And so, what this framework is going to do is it is going to allow the incentivization for the transition to near zero fuels because … the new cleaner fuels are costing three to four times as much as the old fossil fuels. And we need to incentivize the transition … besides raising public awareness. I think things that are taking place in the Port of Los Angeles like the Green Shipping Corridor partnerships are tremendously important because if we can put … the logistics and infrastructure in place for the green fuels on these major trading routes the hope is that they would replicate it in other smaller trade lanes.”

Trump Administration Opposition to GHG Reductions

Not surprisingly, the Trump administration opposes the IMO’s GHG reductions.

The US government delivered a strongly worded message to IMO delegations, explicitly rejecting any measures that would impose fees on US vessels based on greenhouse gas emissions or fuel choice. The administration further warned it would consider implementing reciprocal measures to offset any charges imposed on American ships, according to media reports.

And so, as it gears up to build new ships for the U.S. and international market, it will be challenged to ignore the long-term emission goals for ships and shipping that the rest of the world is adopting.