Seatrade-Maritime: Lindsey Graham legacy adds urgency to US maritime revival push

Published by Seatrade-Maritime

The sudden passing of US Senator Lindsey Graham brought renewed attention to the Ships for America Act. In late June, three weeks prior to his passing, Graham had joined a list of two-dozen Senators, from both sides of the political aisle, who were co-sponsors of the bill dubbed “S-1541”.

Originally introduced in Spring, 2025, the bill received a push in April and May 2026, which increased the ranks of co-sponsors in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. In an editorial penned by original sponsor Senator Mark Kelly in late April for a major news network, he opined that: “Never before have we witnessed such comprehensive alignment between Republicans and Democrats, industry, and organised labour for rebuilding our great nation’s maritime industry.”

The bill has faced numerous impediments and been caught in shifting currents since its introduction. Though the legislation was driven by concerns about the decline in the States’ commercial maritime capabilities, military shipbuilding capabilities have been the main focus of conversations. In early July, reports suggested that planners in Washington, DC had been contacting South Korean yards Hanwha and HD Hyundai regarding their capabilities for possibly building destroyers and other naval ships.

The ongoing brouhaha regarding tariffs has also blown Ships for America off-course. Initially, a Trust fund to support US shipbuilding was to have been bank-rolled by proceeds of levies on China-linked commercial vessels calling at US ports. In October, 2025, those taxes were postponed- with observers now waiting until October 2026 to see if the levies are re-instated.

A stated intent of S 1541 is to fuel the return of the US as a dominant maritime power, but its commercial side has also been veered off-course by the Jones Act Waivers initially enacted in mid-March and renewed in mid-May. The current waiver, which has been dominated by movements of petroleum products between ports that otherwise would have been handled by “qualified” vessels built in the US, owned by US companies, and crewed by US mariners, expires in mid-August. Pro-Jones Act proponents tie the waiver to maritime security issues; a recent report from conservative think-tank the Lexington Institute stated that: “the Jones Act is a proven incentive for investment and innovation in the US shipbuilding industry.”

One well-known observer of the US shipping scene, Campbell University professor Dr. Sal Mercogliano, recently offered his views on the commercial shipping capabilities of the US. In recent Twitter postings, Mercogliano wrote: “The key is not the shipyards, but the domestic infrastructure to support the shipyards….The reason it is expensive to build ships, and why it takes longer, and costs more, is we have systematically destroyed our industrial infrastructure.”

Pointing towards education issues, Mercogliano continued: “We need to build this back, and by building ships again in the US we will create the demand for steel, electrical wiring, hydraulic piping, shipfitters, electricians, welders, fitters, and all the ancillary components that benefit not just the US commercial building sector, but also the naval building sector.…I am the first to sign on to the idea that we need to be encouraging and supporting young Americans to look toward this sector for the future.”

Senator Lindsey Graham supported maritime education; after he had secured grant funding for a technical college in North Charleston, South Carolina, the school posted: “A big thank you to US Sen. Lindsey Graham for securing $1.5m in Federal funding to support the creation of a mobile maritime training and education lab. We appreciate your support.”

With renewed action in the Persian Gulf, and the US possibly taking a more active role at the Strait of Hormuz, uncertainty continues. In a subsequent Youtube broadcast by Mercogliano, he suggests that “…official statements regarding the safety of the Strait may be premature or misleading.”