PHILADELPHIA – When Brendan Boyle, the Democratic congressman who represents Pennsylvania’s second congressional district, was growing up, his father worked in a warehouse in South Philly within two minutes of the Philly Shipyard.
“He was a warehouse worker for 25 years, blue-collar job, heavy manual labor; really important work that was a family-sustaining job, which is what he had the whole time that I was growing up,” said Boyle.
Boyle said he knew even as a youngster how important the busy, noisy shipyard and all of the blue-collar jobs that were directly or indirectly supporting it were to the economy of the region.
Which is a big part of the reason he was so honored to be part of the Pennsylvania delegation that worked together with some members of the New Jersey and Delaware delegations to lobby Secretary Elaine Chao and the Department of Transportation for the much-needed, major contract it was just awarded to build two training ships for the U.S. Maritime Administration.
“The award package for the training ships is worth $630 million,” said Doyle from his home in Northeast Philadelphia.
“The National Security Multi-Mission Vessel is a made in America, state of the art ship, upon which a generation of mariners will train, and that will support the Department of Defense, FEMA, and humanitarian missions during national emergencies,” said Chao in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
For months, the Philly Shipyard operations had been in a lull, and the lack of any Jones Act shipbuilding orders could have been ominous for its future; this NSMV project marks a pivotal moment for the shipyards plan to lure more government contracting projects.
“This is really exciting, especially personally very gratifying for me, having been the deputy maritime administrator and worked on this issue to finally see four new ships coming to fruition and potentially one more,” said Chao.
Chao said in 1986 she served as the deputy administrator of the Maritime Administration, and from 1988 to 1989, she served as chair of the Federal Maritime Commission.
Boyle said one of the things that the delegations pointed out was just the long track record of success of the Philly Shipyard.
“I think it’s important that people realize that because ever since the decline of the Navy Yard over 20 years ago and that area becoming repurposed for a lot of office space, which fortunately has taken off, people don’t realize there still is military activity that takes place down there.”
“I have a number of constituents who work there, and these are good, high-paying jobs, a good blue-collar, white-collar mix that we have right here. The perception sometimes that these jobs don’t exist any longer in our state, it is, I think, sometimes exaggerated in national media,” Boyle said.
Chao said this contract is an important investment in the future of the U.S. maritime sector. “Currently, the maritime administration has funding for three ships, and we are requesting an additional funding for the fourth ship as well,” she said.
There are six state academies, and some of them are sharing ships right now, said Chao.
“The current ships are old, and they’re not large enough, and they’re not very modern,” she said of the fleet.
“The Philadelphia Shipyard won the first contract and because of their continuing expertise, they certainly have an excellent chance of winning of the successes of ship contracts as well,” she said.
She added, “It will provide a lot of work for employees of that shipyard. It’s going to create quite a boom for economic vitality of the region, I think it is over 1,200 jobs,” she said.
Chao said she talked to several members of congress about awarding the contract from House Republicans and Democrats like Boyle, as well as senators such as Republican Pat Toomey.
“I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that the Philly shipyard deserved this contract because they’re the best-equipped folks in America to build these ships,” said Toomey from his home in Zionsville, just 50 miles north of the shipyards.
“I was very, very happy to go to bat for them because their track record of producing great quality ships, including for our national security purposes, is really unmatched,” he said.
Toomey explained he spoke to both Secretary Chao and President Donald Trump to make the case for the shipyards.
“The shipyard folks, of course, have done a great job documenting their capabilities, and it is a driver of a tremendous number of really well-paying jobs. There’s going to be a lot of people able to earn a productive living and build ships that our country needs, so it’s a great outcome, and I was delighted to just play a very small role in it,” he said.
“It was a great, bipartisan lobbying effort to work with,” Chao said of all of the members of the Pennsylvania delegation.
Chao’s team said construction will start next year, with the first two ships set to be done in 2023.
Chao said if they decide to purchase the additional three ships ultimately needed, “Then the contract could be worth over $1 billion in total.”
