Bay Area Council Supports Visionary Plan for Bringing Shipbuilding Industry Back to Northern California

Plan by California Forever to locate massive shipbuilding, maritime industry hub in Solano County aligns with bipartisan efforts by Trump, Congress

The Bay Area Council today (April 9) announced its strong support for visionary plans by California Forever, a private development company, to build a massive shipbuilding and maritime industry hub in Solano County on thousands of acres of underutilized land which for decades has been designated for just that purpose. The plan would relaunch the Bay Area’s once global-leading shipbuilding and maritime industry and aligns with the Bay Area Council’s expansive and long-held regional vision for reenergizing, activating and growing our waterfront and maritime industries to create tens of thousands of well-paying jobs and generate widespread economic opportunity. Council CEO Jim Wunderman recently toured the Solano site and came away extremely impressed by the incredible potential of the plans for Solano Shipyard.

“Standing on the waterfront and imagining a world-class shipbuilding facility as part of a larger, thriving regional maritime industry, the excitement was palpable,” Wunderman said. “It’s not often that the conditions align to make a visionary plan like this possible and it’s in those moments we must seize the opportunity. The benefits to the Bay Area, California and our nation will be remarkable. Time to weigh anchor on this new chapter to revitalize the Bay Area’s industrial might.”

Indeed, the Bay Area was once a global shipbuilding and maritime industry powerhouse, churning out more than 1,400 ships at 30 shipyards spread across the region during World War II. In the decades following the war and behind the leadership of groups like the Bay Area Council, the region pivoted from heavy industry to technology and other innovation industries and became better known for producing chips, not ships. But as the economy globalized and the U.S. industrial manufacturing base declined, our nation’s shipbuilding and maritime industry capacity and capabilities precipitously and dangerously shrank, putting us at a strategic and competitive disadvantage with foreign competitors.

The timing couldn’t be better for relaunching the Bay Area’s shipbuilding and maritime industry. The issue has strong bipartisan support. According to a recent poll released by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, 72% of Americans agreed that the United States cannot remain dependent on foreign manufacturers, and 68% saying this is a matter of national security.

The issue also has bipartisan support with the federal government. Congress is considering the SHIPS Act, bipartisan legislation to support domestic shipbuilding that is sponsored by Rep. John Garamendi, whose district includes parts of Solano County. President Trump also recently established the Office of Ship Building in the White House, and he is soon expected to sign an Executive Order focused on reestablishing America as a global shipbuilding leader.

With the Bay Area as the U.S. gateway to the Pacific, California Forever’s Solano site is “one of a kind” for its size and location. Nowhere else in the United States does a site of this size and strategic logistical advantages exist. And the Solano site is already zoned for heavy industrial and marine terminal use, with existing railroad infrastructure positioned nearby. The new city proposed by California Forever, which is located on another portion of their holdings about 10 miles north, would further enhance the viability of the shipyard by providing workforce housing and advanced manufacturing zone that can host suppliers to the shipyard.

Not only would a Bay Area shipbuilding facility support national defense and commercial shipping interests, but it could also produce the next generation of electric ferries, which are currently built as far away as Seattle, Alabama and Korea. Headquartered on an historic ferry—The Klamath—that once plied Bay waters, the Bay Area Council was instrumental in creating the SF Bay Ferry system more than 20 years ago, and there is no reason that the vessels needed to build out a regional fleet couldn’t and shouldn’t be built right here in our backyard. Indeed, the SF Bay Ferry system has already expressed its support for the Solano Shipyard.

A new shipbuilding industry would also support many thousands of advanced manufacturing and skilled trades jobs across our region. Modern shipbuilding is a team sport, with components and modules often assembled across entire regions, and then barged or moved on rail to the waterfront facilities for final assembly. Industry figures suggest that for each waterfront job, 5 to 10 jobs are created in the supply chain. With a major waterfront operation in southeastern Solano County, the entire region would likely benefit from tens of thousands of jobs supporting the shipyard that are distributed throughout, both on waterfront sites like Richmond, Mare Island, Stockton, and West Sacramento, and in inland cities. Assemblymember Lori Wilson (Suisun City) has formed a special working group, including Council CEO Wunderman and California Forever CEO Jan Sramek, aimed at fostering shipbuilding and maritime opportunities.

Groups like the Working Waterfront Coalition (WWC) have already been working hard to create the workforce that will be required. In a separate statement released yesterday, Bobby Winston, CEO of the Working Waterfront Coalition, said: “The Working Waterfront Coalition is a dynamic regional alliance of employers, unions, and civic leaders from around the Bay Area united in a mission to reshape how the working waterfront recruits and trains the next generation of skilled workers and we enthusiastically support plans for the Solano Shipyard, a state-of-the-art shipyard facility in southeastern Solano County, 3 miles east of Collinsville.  The WWC’s innovative approach combines hands-on training with entrepreneurial thinking, which is just what the Solano Shipyard plan and the people behind it are all about.  It’s a winner for everyone in the Bay Area region, especially our second chance and high school vocational populations.  The maritime career pathways with excellent pay and benefits this plan makes possible will greatly improve the Bay Area’s quality of life while honoring its heritage. We’re gung-ho.”

Finally, the site’s proximity to Silicon Valley offers our nation a unique opportunity to establish not just one of the largest shipyards in the world but do so in close proximity to the world’s center of innovation in Silicon Valley. As shipbuilding evolves with robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence, there is no place more suited in America to lead the charge.

The Bay Area Council wholeheartedly supports this proposal and looks forward to being an integral part of making it become a reality as part of our larger vision for restoring and reinvigorating the Bay Area’s once mighty shipbuilding and maritime industry.