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The SHIPS for America Act is the central bipartisan legislative vehicle for US commercial maritime revitalization in the 119th Congress. It was introduced simultaneously in the Senate (S.1541, Kelly-Young) and House (H.R.3151, Garamendi-T. Kelly) on 30 April–1 May 2025, building directly on the policy framework mandated by Executive Order 14269 (Restoring America's Maritime Dominance, 9 April 2025) and the subsequent America's Maritime Action Plan (AMAP, released 13 February 2026).
Key instruments:
1. Strategic Commercial Fleet Program — sets a national goal of 250 US-flag commercial vessels within 10 years; establishes a cross-agency Maritime Security Fleet Fund; directs MARAD to administer vessel-acquisition financing and operating-differential subsidies.
2. Maritime Security Trust Fund — USD 50 million annually FY2026–2035, capitalized from re-directed duties, tonnage taxes, and port fees; structured as a revolving fund to provide below-market Title XI Federal Ship Financing Program loans to US-licensed shipyards.
3. Shipbuilding Financial Incentives — 25 % investment tax credit (ITC) for qualified shipyard capital expenditures (drydocks, lifting equipment, steel fabrication shops, digitalization); Title XI program converted from appropriation-based to revolving-fund structure to increase throughput.
4. Cargo-preference expansion — 100 % of US-government cargo must sail on US-flagged vessels; 10 % of seaborne imports from China; 15 % of LNG exports and 10 % of crude-oil exports by volume on US-flagged vessels — all with a phase-in ramp over 5 years.
5. Workforce — Merchant Marine Career Retention Program providing bonus payments to retain licensed US mariners; US Center for Maritime Innovation (within DOT/MARAD); regional maritime innovation hubs; Maritime Prosperity Zones tax incentives for shipyard-adjacent communities.
6. China counter-provisions — tonnage-tax penalties on vessels operated by "foreign-concern" entities (targeting China Ocean Shipping / COSCO affiliates); complements the USTR Section 301 port-entry fee mechanism.
This bill is a legislative companion to two already-filed instruments:
the executive order that set the whole-of-government framework; SHIPS Act encodes much of that framework into statute and adds funding mechanisms the EO could not unilaterally provide.
shipbuilding, severity 5) — the punitive/trade-remedy side targeting Chinese-flag and Chinese-built vessels; SHIPS Act is the positive industrial-policy complement building US capacity as the alternative.
Korean and Japanese shipbuilders (Hanwha Ocean, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, IHI, Imabari, Japan Marine United) stand to benefit indirectly: US yards lack the capacity to fulfill the 250-vessel target on their own within 10 years, creating demand for allied-nation technology transfer, joint-venture assembly, and ship-component supply chains — consistent with the bilateral maritime partnership signals in the 2025 US-Japan alliance context.
Severity 2 (proposed-bill milestone). The bill was introduced with bipartisan co-sponsorship (Kelly D + Young R in Senate; Garamendi D + T. Kelly R in House) and labor/industry endorsement (AFL-CIO, Seafarers International Union, AMO, NASSCO). GovTrack enactment probability is <3 % for a bill introduced in this Congress given its scope. Severity would rerate to 4 on enactment (comparable to EO 14269) given the ITC and cargo-preference provisions represent the most material legislative subsidies to US shipbuilding since the 1936 Merchant Marine Act.
NDAA (a common legislative vehicle for maritime-security provisions)?
(GPA) obligations for LNG/crude exports?
pathway for licensed allied-nation builders?