The Administration's 2026 Maritime Action Plan: What it Could Mean for the Small Shipyard Grant Program

After two years of underinvestment, Congress delivered $35 million to the Small Shipyard Grant Program for FY2026-- the most since 2009. It’s a long-overdue boost for small, often family-owned shipyards that quietly power America’s maritime sector.

But tucked inside Trump Administration's recently released Maritime Action Plan (MAP) is a proposal that could change the program’s DNA: expanding eligibility to large shipyards. We took a close look at the Administration's plan, noting that further details are forthcoming.

Small Shipyards provide ongoing investment in training and development essential for the industry’s workforce.

The Small Shipyard Grant Program Delivers

The MAP rightly acknowledges what our industry has long known: the Small Shipyard Grant Program works. It remains one of the most effective federal tools for modernizing America’s shipyards and strengthening the domestic maritime industrial base.

The President’s call for increased funding was both necessary and welcome, and it helped lead to Congress appropriating $35 million for FY2026—the highest funding level since 2009. While that amount is modest compared to the federal investment directed toward a handful of large defense contractor shipyards, it makes a meaningful difference in the small shipyard community.

When funded at these meaningful levels, the Small Shipayrd Grant Program supports skilled trades, strengthens local economies, and reinforces American manufacturing communities across the country.

Expanding Grants to Large Shipyards Could Harm Small Yards, but it Doesn't Have to

The MAP proposal to expand this program to include large shipyards raises serious concerns. Small shipyards are typically family-owned small businesses. They do not have access to Wall Street capital or the substantial, ongoing Department of War funding streams that are available to large shipyards. Yet they face many of the same challenges: maintaining aging waterfront infrastructure, investing in modern equipment and technology, and competing in an increasingly tight labor market for skilled workers.

When a trained employee leaves a small shipyard for higher wages at a federally supported large shipyard, the small business absorbs the cost of training within this shared and highly constrained labor pool. Federal programs, like the Small Shipyard Grant Program, are designed to help level this uneven playing field and not further tilt it.

A New Shipyard Capacity Expansion Program Could Work, If Carefully Structured

In addition to the proposed expansion of the Small Shipayrd Grant Program, the MAP proposes a new grant program “in line with the goals” of the Small Shipyard Grant Program to increase capacity at shipyards of all sizes. A new program may have merit if structured carefully. But caution is essential for a fragile ecosystem of shipyard services. Federally incentivized capacity expansion can distort competitive regional markets if not designed with appropriate safeguards. For example, direct federal incentives that expand capacity at one facility can unintentionally disadvantage neighboring yards operating in the same regional market, undermining competitive neutrality and market balance.

The Maritime Administration has historically administered the Small Shipyard Grant Program with a clear understanding of these dynamics. Any new or expanded program must preserve that discipline and avoid policies that inadvertently harm these markets or the small businesses that form the backbone of the U.S. maritime sector.

Small Shipyards Power America’s Working Fleet and Maritime Economy

Small shipyards may not build aircraft carriers, but they build and maintain the bulk of America’s working fleet. These are the workboats that move commerce on our rivers and coasts, support export markets from the nation’s interior, ferry vehicles and passengers in remote and island communities, harvest seafood, perform critical marine construction and infrastructure projects, and carry out safety, firefighting, law enforcement, research, and environmental protection missions every day. They are central to America’s working waterfront and indispensable to the functioning of the American economy.

The Small Shipyard Grant Coalition stands ready to work with Congress and the Administration to ensure that future maritime policy advances important national objectives through the strengthening of America’s hundreds of small shipyards—not at their cost, while only further concentrating federal advantages among a handful of large corporations. America’s strong maritime future depends on a broad, competitive, and resilient industrial base, and small shipyards are a cornerstone of that foundation.

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