Page 23: of Marine News Magazine (September 2026)

22 24

“First and foremost, that’s all I talk about. That’s all I do.

That’s where our investments will be.”

Carmel argues that allowing America’s commercial ship- building base to erode ultimately damaged military ship- building, too. Once the commercial market disappeared, so did much of the supplier base, industrial depth, volume and innovation that accompany it.

“A strategic vulnerability is when you are the only cus- tomer for a critical vendor,” he said. When government be- comes the sole customer keeping suppliers alive, the result is neither economically healthy nor particularly resilient.

Carmel calls the inland waterways “the

Commercial maritime requires an ecosystem, Carmel absolute arteries of American commerce,” argues, not simply a collection of isolated yards. That in- but argues that their condition remains cludes equipment manufacturers and suppliers, and ul- unacceptable. “We need some serious timately domestic production of major machinery that investment in the inland arteries that today must be imported. “We need a robust ecosystem,” sustain the lifeblood of America. That’s

Carmel said. That argument resonates particularly strongly our ports and locks and inland waterways in the smaller commercial yards that build America’s work- system. It does no good at all to build out boats, towboats and coastal vessels. Carmel noted spe- ci? cally that MARAD’s Title XI ? nancing program is not this robust seacoast stuff if we’ve let the solely intended for large oceangoing ships. “Title 11’s for interior of the country fall apart.” smaller stuff too,” he said.

www.marinelink.com MN 23|