Analysis
April 9, 2026
Final Thoughts
Written by Ethan Bernard
The world definitely seems like a more dangerous place these days. And, of course, when national security is invoked, the steel industry always plays a key role.
In today’s issue, in fact, SMU’s Kristen DiLandro wrote about Algoma Steel partnering with a fellow Canadian firm, Roshel Inc., to form Roshel Algoma Defence (RADS) for sovereign ballistic steel defense solutions.
But it’s obviously not only north of the border. In this week’s Steel Market Chatter, one of the comments highlighted an important issue that few are talking about: “Rebuilding of munitions and modern war boats.”
It just requires a little digging to see what hasn’t gotten a lot of attention: America’s Maritime Action Plan, released in February by the White House.
The 42-page plan starts with a bold statement from President Trump:
“We will soon revitalize our once-great shipyards with hundreds of billions of dollars in new investments and people coming from all around the world… to build ships in America. We want them built in America.”
However, we have seen similar statements around infrastructure spending from previous administrations. The pipeline from bold statement to shovel-ready project can be a long, actually a very long process.
The plan states that less than 1% of new commercial ships are built in the United States.
“With only 66 total shipyards—consisting of eight active shipbuilding yards, 11 shipyards with build positions, 22 repairs yards with drydocking, and 25 topside repairs yards—the United States does not have the capacity necessary to scale up the domestic shipbuilding industry to the rate required to meet national priorities,” the plan says.
Key elements include deregulation, increasing domestic shipbuilding capacity, and incentivizing investment in US shipyards, among other things.
A 42-page government document has many moving parts. But one element really jumped out.
“To date, President Trump has secured at least $150 billion of dedicated investment for America’s shipbuilding industry,” the report says. “The Department of Commerce (DOC) is working to mobilize these funds to achieve the greatest investment in US shipbuilding history.”
I guess we will see how that translates into real-world action. So, where does the US rank now in shipbuilding?
UNCTAD, Review of Maritime Transport 2025, listed the top shipbuilding nations of 2024 by gross tonnage. China, South Korea, and Japan top the list. The US comes in at number 10, with only 0.04% of global shipbuilding output by gross tonnage. For comparison, China is at 54.57%.
The main type of steel used in shipbuilding is plate. Some domestic suppliers include Nucor, Cleveland-Cliffs, and SSAB Americas.
We’ve seen wind energy as a driver of overall plate demand. But that has backed off as this current administration is not as bullish on wind power. Could shipbuilding see a surge in plate? These are still early days before high-level policy translates into real-world demand.
High-strength steels
The fourth and final pillar of the plan is: National Security, Economic Security, and Industrial Resilience. Here, steel is specifically mentioned.
One of the policy recommendations is to Increase Domestic Capacity for Critical Components and Reduce Sole-Source Dependencies. This is where “high‑strength steels” come in, along with things like large marine engines and propellers.
Some leading producers include Nucor, Cleveland-Cliffs, and SSAB Americas.
Though this ambitious plan was just released in February, it makes you wonder. We’ve actually gone to war since the plan itself was released. And global hostilities don’t seem to be simmering down. So will this prove a catalyst to get projects up and running faster? Time will tell.
As always, thank you for your continued support of SMU.
