The article emphasizes the United States' critical dependence on maritime shipping, revealing a troubling lack of domestic shipbuilding capacity. With approximately 80% of international trade by weight reliant on ocean transport, America's military and commercial logistics are at risk due to foreign reliance. Only a minuscule fraction of vessels are U.S.-built, while rival China dominates global shipbuilding and container production. The pandemic underscored these vulnerabilities, allowing foreign shipping cartels to impose exorbitant costs, highlighting the urgent need for America to bolster its maritime industry and reduce dependency on foreign entities.
"He who commands the sea has command of everything," the ancient Athenian general Themistocles said. By that standard, the United States has command of very little.
America depends on ocean shipping. About 80 percent of its international trade by weight traverses the seas. The U.S. needs ships to deliver nearly 90 percent of its armed forces' supplies and equipment.
Of the tens of thousands of large vessels that dot the oceans, a mere 0.13 percent are built in the United States. China, by contrast, fulfills roughly 60 percent of all new shipbuilding orders.
Foreign cartels raised the cost of spot contracts on certain shipping lanes by up to 1,000 percent while making a record $190 billion in windfall profits.
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