Japan is moving to revive its declining shipbuilding industry, once a global leader but now far behind China and South Korea.
The government and ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have proposed building or rehabilitating shipyards under a “national dock” plan, where facilities would be publicly funded and privately operated. The proposal, submitted to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, also calls for a detailed roadmap by fall, backed by about 1 trillion yen ($6.9 billion) in public and private investment.
The initiative aims to counter shrinking capacity, aging infrastructure, and a labor shortage, issues that have caused Japan’s shipbuilding output to fall.
Furthermore, training centers and expanded foreign worker programs are planned to rebuild the workforce.
This initiative resemples another effort to boost national shipbuilding capacities when, on the other side of the Pacific, US President Donald Trump announced in March the creation of an office of shipbuilding and new tax incentives aimed at revitalizing the US shipbuilding sector.
