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Hanwha Philly Shipyard (Philadelphia, PA):
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Acquired by South Korea’s Hanwha Group in December 2024 for $100 million, with Hanwha Systems (60% stake) and Hanwha Ocean (40% stake) owning 100% of the former Philly Shipyard, previously controlled by Norway’s Aker ASA.
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Fincantieri Marinette Marine (Marinette, WI):
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Owned by Fincantieri, an Italian company, through its U.S. division, Fincantieri Marine Group. This shipyard, established in 1942, builds naval vessels like frigates and littoral combat ships for the U.S. Navy. Fincantieri operates 18 shipyards globally and employs around 20,000 professionals.
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Austal USA (Mobile, AL):
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A subsidiary of Austal Limited, an Australian company, specializing in high-speed ferries and naval vessels like the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF). Austal USA is a significant player in U.S. naval shipbuilding.
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South Korean and Japanese Interest: The U.S. Navy has actively encouraged investment from South Korean (e.g., HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean) and Japanese (e.g., Mitsubishi) shipbuilders to bolster U.S. shipyard capacity, particularly to counter China’s dominance in global shipbuilding. Visits by U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro in 2024 to South Korea and Japan emphasized this strategy. South Korean companies, in particular, are expanding their U.S. presence, with Hanwha’s acquisition being a notable first for Korean firms in U.S. shipbuilding.
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Historical Foreign Ownership: Foreign ownership in U.S. shipyards has been a concern since at least the 1980s, with fears of competitive disadvantages due to foreign yards’ access to global markets and advanced technology. The 2020s have seen a resurgence of such investments, partly due to U.S. shipbuilding’s decline (from 3% of global commercial tonnage in the 1970s to 0.25% by 1999) and the need for foreign expertise.
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Jones Act Constraints: The 1920 Jones Act mandates that vessels operating between U.S. ports be built, owned, and crewed by Americans, limiting the role of foreign-built ships but not foreign ownership of shipyards. This has pushed foreign companies to acquire or invest in U.S. yards to access the domestic market.
While exact numbers are elusive, only a small fraction of the 154 active U.S. shipyards are foreign-owned. Besides the three prominent examples above (Hanwha Philly Shipyard, Fincantieri Marinette Marine, and Austal USA), most major U.S. shipyards—like Newport News Shipbuilding (Huntington Ingalls Industries), General Dynamics NASSCO, Bath Iron Works, and Ingalls Shipbuilding—remain American-owned, often tied to defense contractors serving the U.S. Navy. Foreign ownership is more prevalent in yards focused on commercial or dual-use (commercial and naval) construction, but the total number of foreign-owned yards likely does not exceed 5-10, based on documented cases and industry trends.
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Data Gaps: No single source provides a definitive list of all U.S. shipyards with current ownership details, as ownership can change rapidly (e.g., Hanwha’s recent acquisition).
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Private vs. Public Yards: The U.S. has four public naval shipyards (Norfolk, Portsmouth, Puget Sound, Pearl Harbor), which are government-owned and thus not foreign-controlled. Private yards are more susceptible to foreign acquisition, but many remain under U.S. corporate control due to national security concerns.
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Partial Ownership: Some yards may have foreign investment or partnerships without full ownership, complicating the count.
The Korean-controlled Philly Shipyard is gearing up to build the first LNG carriers in America since the 1970s.
Following last week’s announcement by the US Trade Representative (USTR) on port fees designed to boost American shipbuilding, Hanhwa Ocean, which bought Philly Shipyard last year, has said it will embark on a project to build gas ships in the US.
Under new guidelines from the USTR, LNG carriers are required to move 1% of US LNG exports on US-built, operated and flagged vessels within four years. That percentage would rise to 4% by 2035 and to 15% by 2047.
Only three of the 800 LNG carriers in the fleet today are US-built, all dating back to the 1970s.
Hanwha Ocean, formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), is one of the world’s top builders of LNG carriers, one of the harder, more complex commercial ship types to consrtruct.
Requiring the use of US-flagged ships for LNG exports has been branded unfeasible by the Washington DC-based lobby group Center for Liquefied Natural Gas (CLNG).
“This proposal is simply not feasible and would hinder US LNG competition with other global suppliers,” said CLNG executive director Charlie Riedl, adding: “Placing this kind of unnecessary requirement on the US LNG industry would hurt the industry’s ability to compete for growing international demand.”
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