The German Shipbuilding and Ocean Industries Association (VSM) expects little impact on exports from Germany under US President-elect Donald Trump.
“American shipbuilding has been effectively sealed off from the global market for around 100 years,” says VSM Managing Director Reinhard Lüken. The reason is the Jones Act. Cabotage regulations restrict shipping between US ports to vessels that are manufactured in the USA, owned by US citizens, and operated by US shipping companies.
VSM sees opportunities for suppliers
Exports to the USA, however, mainly concern the supplier sector. “I assume that the election result will not have any significant disadvantages for this sector either. Our manufacturers offer many products for which there are no comparable American alternatives.” Therefore, Lüken does not expect any major direct effects on German shipbuilding. Moreover, American capacity in global shipbuilding is minimal.
Naval shipbuilding is another issue, says Lüken: “The Americans have recognized that they are so hopelessly behind China in terms of industrial capacity that this poses, or could pose, a security risk. Europe is evolving in a similar direction. We are still much stronger in civilian shipbuilding. But, of course, we have also lost a lot of capacity. And this could also become a problem for Europe.
This means that there are “also issues where we can possibly learn from the Americans”, said the VSM Managing Director. (PS)
