When America wanted it most, the Puget Sound produced ships. Throughout WWI, Seattle’s shipbuilding accounted for 20% of the nation’s wartime tonnage. In WWII, the Todd-Pacific Shipyards in Tacoma had been a middle of navy shipbuilding, using greater than 28,000 folks at peak manufacturing. With a renewed push for shipbuilding in the USA, the Puget Sound ought to reply the decision as soon as once more.
Our area has many benefits, together with a longtime trade with a talented workforce from each the non-public sector and the protection trade, such because the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton. Moreover, our robust reference to the Republic of Korea, which maintains a consulate in Seattle and is the world’s second-largest industrial shipbuilding nation, has expressed curiosity in shipbuilding cooperation as a part of its tariff negotiations.
Now’s the time for Washington’s authorities to be proactive, constructing on its established trade, expert workforce and leveraging worldwide partnerships to make it simpler for home shipbuilders and international companions to take a position, develop and succeed. If we meet this second as we’ve earlier than, it won’t be lengthy earlier than we glance out throughout the Sound and see ships constructed right here in Washington as soon as once more transporting items throughout the globe.
Sam Henkels, Seattle
