Can the Bay Area Lead America’s Maritime Comeback?

The Bay Area Council was honored to join Rep. John Garamendi last week (Sept. 10) at a powerful Maritime Summit he convened at the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo where top government, community and industry leaders strategized on efforts to revitalize shipbuilding in the Bay Area.

Garamendi is the lead House sponsor of the bipartisan SHIPS for America Act, which aims to reignite the U.S. commercial maritime and shipbuilding industries and reduce reliance on foreign supply chains. During World War II, the Bay Area built more than 1,400 ships across 30 shipyards in the region. Today, U.S. shipyards produce just 0.2% of global commercial output.

Council President and CEO Libby Schaaf helped lead the discussion and argued that the region’s maritime and blue technology sector is central to its economic future — and to national security. Schaaf pointed to the Bay Area’s unique mix of assets: deep-water ports, a skilled building-trades workforce, top engineering institutions, and world-class innovation, all within the same region.

“The Bay Area is the only place where the shipyard and the software company are often in the same area code,” she said. Schaaf noted that federal infrastructure investments could also accelerate the region’s transition to zero-emission passenger vessels, highlighting SF Bay Ferry’s work to launch the world’s first zero-emission passenger ferry network.