The Shipbuilding Industry

This work aims to facilitate the study of the shipbuilding industry by making available information on the present location of shipbuilding archives. The brief histories of about 200 businesses are offered.

The U.S. shipbuilding and repairing industry is comprised of establishments that are primarily engaged in operating shipyards, which are fixed facilities with drydocks and fabrication equipment. Shipyard activities include ship construction, repair, conversion and alteration, as well as the production of prefabricated ship and barge sections and other specialized services. The industry also includes manufacturing and other facilities outside of the shipyard, which provide parts or services for shipbuilding activities within a shipyard, including routine maintenance and repair services from floating drydocks not connected with a shipyard. The purpose of this book is to measure the economic importance of the U.S. shipbuilding and repairing industry; identify key practices employed by leading commercial ship buyers and shipbuilders that ensure satisfactory cost, schedule, and ship performance; determine the extent to which Navy shipbuilding programs employ these practices; and evaluate how commercial and Navy business environments incentivize the use of best practices.

The second World War dramatically affected Canada's shipbuilding industry. James Pritchard describes the rapidly changing circumstances and personalities that shaped government shipbuilding policy, the struggle for steel, the expansion of ancillary industries, and the cost of Canadian wartime ship production.

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This book, first published in 1985, presents a comprehensive overview of the world shipbuilding industry. It contrasts the conditions which foster its development in newly-industrialised countries such as Japan, South Korea and Brazil with the problems leading to its decline in Western Europe and North America. The book discusses the supply and demand factors peculiar to shipbuilding and notes the inherent instability of the industry due to the conditions placed upon it by the economic environment. Reactions to this instability are examined from the point of view of both shipbuilding enterprises and governments. The book concludes by assessing current trends and discussing likely future developments. It is shown that much will depend on shipping costs, industrial organisation and the level of state support.