South Korean and Japanese shipbuilders are poised to emerge as the biggest winners from Trump’s attempted crackdown on China’s shipbuilding industry, the Economist reported. Rather than reviving the ailing US shipbuilding industry, the levies imposed on China-built vessels would likely shift the market share away from China to markets that already have the production capacity, such as South Korea and Japan — which both accounted for half of the global merchant-fleet tonnage in the late 2000s and about third as of 2024, the Economist reported, citing data from shipping consultancy firm Clarksons.

REMEMBER- The US introduced levies on all China-built and China-flagged vessels last month. The levies impose on non-Chinese operators a USD 2 mn fee per American voyage for a big container ship and USD 3.5 mn for a supertanker, while Chinese operators will be charged triple the fees.

Rainbows and butterflies for South Korean firms: South Korea’s Shipbuilding giants Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai are already firing on all cylinders. For example, Hanwha’s revenues for 1Q 2025 increased 38% y-o-y to 2.2 bn, while their operating net income nearly quintupled.

Make American shipbuilding great again? Not quite. The US produces just 0.1% of the world’s merchant vessels — down from 5% over 50 years ago — indicating that there are hardly any supply chains or shipyards except a few naval facilities. Shippers are also less likely to turn to the US for new orders given its weak pool of skilled labor and high production costs, with South Korea being a more obvious choice at a sixth of the US price.

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