New dry docks, module facilities and upgraded equipment add physical capacity. Skilled people are what turn that capacity into production. Here is where investment is going, and what it means for workforce planning.
The U.S. maritime industrial base is getting new physical capacity. Public shipyards are building new dry docks. Submarine suppliers are opening module facilities. Private yards are leasing land and planning new docks. Small shipyards are buying cranes, floating dry docks and welding equipment with federal grant support.
Each of those projects adds something real: space, lift, reach, equipment or technology. None of them builds, repairs or modernizes a vessel on its own.
That is the practical question behind every capacity investment. When the dry dock floods for the first time or the new assembly bay opens, will the right welders, shipfitters, pipefitters, electricians, machinists and riggers be ready to work in it?
This article looks at what shipyard capacity expansion looks like in practice, where verified investment is going, and how shipyard leaders can plan the workforce needed to turn physical capacity into productive capacity.
"Capacity" is often used as shorthand for square footage or the number of dry docks. In practice, a shipyard's ability to deliver work depends on several connected pieces:
GAO's February 2025 review of the shipbuilding and repair industrial base reflects that mix. It found that shipbuilders "have infrastructure and workforce challenges that have made the Navy's goals difficult to accomplish," that four of seven major shipbuilders face constrained physical space, and that some face aging facilities and equipment.
The same report also noted that skilled trades take 3 to 5 years to reach proficiency, based on shipbuilder documentation. Physical and workforce constraints show up together, and they are not solved on the same timeline.
Workforce implication: A capacity plan that only tracks facilities and equipment is incomplete. Workforce availability belongs in the same plan.
Investment in maritime capacity is coming from several directions, at very different scales and stages. A few examples show the range.
Public shipyard infrastructure. The Navy's Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP), established in 2018, targets "condition and capacity shortfalls" at the four public naval shipyards: Norfolk, Pearl Harbor, Portsmouth and Puget Sound. GAO reported in September 2026 that new dry docks are underway at Portsmouth and Pearl Harbor and in the last phases of design at Puget Sound, at a combined estimated cost of about $21.7 billion. GAO also reported that total SIOP costs are expected to surpass $200 billion, with work that could extend 50 years or more. The 2018 starting estimate was at least $21 billion over 20 years. This is long-term planned investment, not completed capacity.
Submarine industrial base. GAO reported in April 2026 that DOD has invested more than $10 billion since fiscal year 2018 to support the submarine industrial base. Some of that is visible in new facilities. Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama received a $450 million contract from General Dynamics Electric Boat in 2024 to design, build and outfit a facility for Virginia- and Columbia-class submarine modules. Austal reported in March 2026 that the facility adds 369,600 square feet of indoor manufacturing space, and local reporting in June 2026 indicated phase one had opened, with phase two still under construction. In Groton, Connecticut, a new floating dry dock built by Bollinger Shipyards arrived at Electric Boat in January 2026 to support Columbia-class construction.
Federal appropriations. The enacted FY2026 defense appropriations act, signed in February 2026, included $285 million for submarine maritime industrial base support and $450 million for large surface combatant infrastructure, according to the Senate Appropriations Committee summary. Looking ahead, the Navy's FY2027 budget request seeks $65.8 billion for shipbuilding. That figure is a request, not enacted funding.
Private shipyard expansion. In August 2025, Hanwha announced a $5 billion investment in Philly Shipyard that includes two additional docks and three quays, with a stated goal of raising annual production from fewer than two vessels to as many as 20. In September 2026, Philadelphia's industrial development authority approved Hanwha's lease of 47 additional acres at the Navy Yard. The investment is announced and the land is secured, but the new docks are not yet built.
Small shipyards. In August 2026, MARAD awarded about $35.1 million in Small Shipyard Grants to 45 shipyards across 24 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Funded projects include floating dry docks in Texas and Kentucky, a 620-ton Travelift in Washington, utilities upgrades in South Carolina, steel processing and welding stations at Corn Island Shipyard in Indiana, and an aluminum welding and fabrication training program in Washington.
Workforce implication: Investment is reaching prime yards, suppliers and small repair yards at the same time. Many of those operations draw on overlapping pools of marine trades.
Not every capacity investment is a building. Some are aimed at how parts are made and how work is done.
The Navy's Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Danville, Virginia, established in 2023, develops digital technical data packages that let qualified suppliers produce Navy parts through additive manufacturing. Its stated purpose is to support submarine production by reducing delays and dependence on limited sources for certain parts.
Equipment upgrades at smaller yards point in the same direction. MARAD's FY2026 awards include plasma cutting, steel processing, welding systems and heavy lift equipment, along with grant-funded training tied to that equipment.
Hanwha's Philly Shipyard announcement also describes modernizing infrastructure with "digital-enabled, high-efficiency technology."
What these sources do not establish is exactly how modernization will change headcount or job titles at any given yard. A reasonable planning assumption is that new equipment and processes can shift the skills mix, adding emphasis on areas such as machining, inspection, quality control and equipment operation, while core structural and outfitting trades remain essential.
Workforce implication: When equipment or processes change, review the skills each role requires, not just the number of roles.
A new facility creates the space for work. The workforce determines how much work actually gets done in it.
Austal's new module facility is a useful illustration. Local reporting on the phase one opening described production space for welding, ship fitting, module structuring, outfitting, electrical work, pipe fitting and painting. Each of those is a distinct craft with its own qualification path. USNI News reported at contract award that the facility was expected to support approximately 1,000 jobs once operational.
GAO's work also cautions against assuming that investment automatically becomes output. In its February 2025 report, GAO found the Navy had "yet to fully establish performance metrics" for its shipbuilding industrial base investments and had not fully evaluated their return. That is not a finding that the investments failed. It is a reminder that capacity has to be measured by what it produces.
Workforce development is being built alongside some of these investments. The Navy-funded Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) program in Danville offers a 600-hour, roughly four-month program in five disciplines: additive manufacturing, CNC machining, non-destructive testing, quality control inspection and metrology, and welding. A new 107,000-square-foot Maritime Training Center supporting that program opened in Danville in June 2026.
Training pipelines like these help. They do not remove the time it takes new workers to become experienced, which GAO reported at 3 to 5 years for skilled shipyard trades.
Workforce implication: The opening date of a facility and the date it reaches productive capacity are not the same. The gap between them is largely a workforce question.
Capacity is ready when both columns are ready.
| Infrastructure Readiness | Workforce Readiness |
|---|---|
| Facilities and production space | Skilled trades available for the work |
| Dry docks and waterfront | Recruiting pipeline by trade |
| Equipment and lift capacity | Training and qualification in place |
| Technology and digital systems | Project-specific experience |
| Production systems and processes | Workforce availability by project phase |
How to use it: For each upcoming capacity milestone, ask whether both columns will be ready on the same date. If the infrastructure column is ahead, that gap is where workforce planning should focus.
Infrastructure projects run on long, visible schedules. Dry docks, assembly buildings and new quays are planned years ahead, with milestones that are known well in advance. That visibility is an advantage for workforce planning, if it is used.
Shipyard leaders can align the two timelines with a few practical steps:
None of this requires assuming a shortage. It requires treating workforce readiness as part of capacity readiness, with its own lead times and milestones.
Workforce implication: The best time to plan the workforce for new capacity is while the capacity is still being built.
Answer yes or no:
New dry docks, facilities and equipment set the stage. Skilled trades determine what gets produced. NSC Marine supports shipbuilding, ship repair and conversion work with welders, shipfitters, pipefitters, electricians, fabricators, blaster/painters, riggers and firewatch. If new capacity is on your calendar, it is a good time to talk through the trades it will need and when.
Explore Marine Staffing Request TalentShipyard capacity includes physical infrastructure such as dry docks, piers and production buildings, along with equipment, technology, supply chains, production processes and the skilled workforce needed to execute the work. GAO has reported that U.S. shipbuilders face both infrastructure and workforce challenges.
SIOP is a Navy program established in 2018 to address condition and capacity shortfalls at the four public naval shipyards. GAO reported in September 2026 that new dry docks are under construction at Portsmouth and Pearl Harbor and in final design at Puget Sound, and that total program costs are expected to surpass $200 billion over 50 or more years.
It is a Maritime Administration program that funds equipment, infrastructure and workforce training at qualifying small shipyards. In August 2026, MARAD awarded about $35.1 million to 45 shipyards in 24 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Not on its own. New facilities create the potential for more work, but productive capacity also depends on skilled workers, training, supply chains and processes. GAO has reported that the Navy has not fully established metrics for measuring the return on its industrial base investments.
Ideally while the capacity is still being built. Facility milestones are usually known well in advance, and skilled trades can take 3 to 5 years to reach proficiency, so aligning recruiting, training and qualification with construction schedules gives leaders the most options.
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