U.S Senators continue to push for a return of shipbuilding to the Great Lakes. The senators on board with the return include: t Todd Young, Jim Banks, Tammy Duckworth, Tammy Baldwin, Gary Peters, Amy Klobuchar, Jon Husted and Elissa Slotkin.
Collaboratively they sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging his administration to establish Maritime Prosperity Zones in the Great Lakes.
The letter stated, “We share your goal of a revitalized shipbuilding and maritime manufacturing industry and believe that the hardworking people and dynamic economies of the Great Lakes region will be essential to achieving it.”
The Ports of Indiana has had talks with shipbuilders about a potential shipbuilding operation at the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor. Northwest Indiana's steel mills already make metal for Navy vessels and could see a spike in demand if more shipbuilding returned to the Upper Midwest.
The letter continued, “The Great Lakes are already home to shipbuilders, manufacturers, steel producers, casting and forging, and maritime industry suppliers. In many ways, the Great Lakes states are well positioned for sustained national investment that would build on the current shipbuilding and manufacturing capacity in the region.”
Senators laid out a five-point plan for Maritime Prosperity Zones "to turbocharge American shipbuilding." They, for instance, recommended defining Great Lakes Prosperity Zones by industrial activity, expanding federal investment in workforce training and encouraging both public and private investments.
They also urged the administration to support the creation of a Great Lakes Shipbuilding Consortium.
"Shipyards, steel producers, and manufacturing suppliers in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Indiana have the capacity and workforce to build Navy and Coast Guard vessels, icebreakers, commercial ferries, and maritime security craft," the senators wrote. "Groups of shipyards and their Great Lakes-based supply chain partners are forming a Great Lakes Shipbuilding Consortium to collaborate on modular construction of U.S. government vessels. We recommend commissioning and funding a study led by the Consortium to facilitate investments in infrastructure, workforce, and technology."
