In testimony earlier than the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, Matthew Paxton, President of the Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA) in the present day cited the confirmed observe document of the women and men of the U.S. shipyard trade as he described the aptitude and capability of the U.S. shipyard trade to construct the subsequent technology of polar icebreakers.

“U.S. shipyards pride themselves on implementing state-of-the-art training and apprenticeship programs to develop skilled craftsmen that can cut, weld, bend and build truly first of kind vessels and the best Navy and Coast Guard in the world,” stated Paxton throughout testimony.

Paxton additionally cited the 2015 Maritime Administration Economic Benefit Study[1] on the U.S. shipyard trade highlighting the greater than “110,000 highly skilled craftsmen in the Nation’s private shipyards building and repairing America’s military and commercial fleets,” who’ve the “expertise, the capability, the critical capacity and the unmatched skilled workforce to build these [polar icebreakers].”

“Matt’s testimony today reflects that not only is the U.S. shipyard industry ready to build icebreakers, but that our industry has the skill, capacity and ingenuity to build the next generation of these sophisticated vessels,” stated Tom Godfrey, Chairman of SCA. “Not only has the Administration supported this initiative, but members of both parties, in both the House and the Senate, understand the critical nature of these vessels for economic and homeland security.”

Recent funds proposals from each House and Senate committees have dedicated further funds in the direction of the event of U.S. Coast Guard property, together with the procurement of a brand new polar icebreaker. Icebreakers are crucial to facilitate commerce in Arctic waterways and on the Great Lakes all year long; the vessels are additionally utilized by authorities entities for analysis functions and by personal entities for business actions.

The listening to, convened by the House Coast Guard and Maritime Subcommittee and chaired by Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Ranking Member John Garamendi (D-CA), mentioned “Coast Guard Arctic Implementation Capabilities” to evaluate the aptitude of the U.S. shipyard trade to construct the subsequent technology of polar icebreakers for the U.S. Coast Guard.

Source: Shipbuilder’s Council of America