WorkBoat Weekly

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The WorkBoat Weekly news brief is an audio rundown of the top commercial marine stories selected by the WorkBoat editorial team, from newbuilds and regulatory shifts to emerging vessel tech and the people shaping the industry. New episodes every week at workboat.com.

Episodes

  1. 3d ago

    WORKBOAT WEEKLY — Ep. 6 — Navy's $77B submarine order, RIB shakeup & Boston Harbor ferry refit

    You're listening to the WorkBoat Weekly. Your quick hit on the stories shaping the commercial marine industry. Here's what's making news this week. The U.S. Navy just placed one of the largest shipbuilding orders in American history — nearly 77 billion dollars for 14 nuclear-powered submarines split between two of the country's most important yards: General Dynamics Electric Boat in Connecticut and Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. The order covers two types of boats. The Columbia-class carries America's sea-based nuclear deterrent — ballistic missile submarines at the core of the country's strategic arsenal. The Virginia-class are the Navy's fast-attack workhorse, built for intelligence gathering, special operations, and anti-submarine warfare. The significance here isn't just the dollar figure. It's the certainty. A contract this size gives both yards the confidence to hire, invest in facilities, and lock in suppliers years in advance. That's exactly the kind of demand signal shipbuilders say they need. Mark Rayha at Electric Boat said it plainly — this gives them and their suppliers the certainty to invest in capacity and deliver on schedule. First delivery expected by 2038. Full breakdown at workboat.com. For years the Navy bought rigid-hull inflatable boats from a single vendor locked into a five-year deal. During Covid that model nearly broke small builders — costs spiked and there was no contractual relief. This spring the Navy changed the playbook. A new ten-year contract worth up to 650 million dollars went to eight builders at once — all competing for individual orders on three hull sizes, with up to 474 boats on the table. It's a meaningful shift. More competition, faster acquisition, and a clearer demand signal for smaller yards trying to plan ahead. The builders are realistic about what it means in practice. United States Marine, Inc. president Tim Hunt said it best — prequalification means you can go out and hunt. Doesn't mean you're going to shoot anything. Full story at workboat.com. Before our final story — a quick word about Pacific Marine Expo. If you work on the West Coast, Pacific Marine Expo is the show you can't miss. This year, Expo heads to the Seattle Convention Center's Arch Building on November 19th — join fishermen, vessel operators, engineers, port officials under one roof. Register now at pacificmarineexpo.com. We close with a story about a boat that's been doing its job for 30 years — and just got another 30 ahead of it. Gladding-Hearn in Somerset, Massachusetts, redelivered the ferry Outward Bound to Boston Harbor's Outward Bound School after a full overhaul. The 64-foot steel vessel was built by the same yard back in 1995. Three decades later it came home for a complete rebuild — new engine, gearbox, shaft, propeller, electrical, steering, and fire suppression. Essentially everything that moves or powers it. The engine choice tells you something about the philosophy. A Mitsubishi diesel with no electronic controls — deliberate. No computers, says yard rep Peter Duclos. Give it air, give it fuel, and it runs. The decision to refit rather than replace came down to one question Duclos always asks: does this boat still do everything you need it to do? The owner said yes. Well then, he said, there's no reason to build a new one. Another 30 years ahead of it if they keep it up. Full story at workboat.com. That's the WorkBoat Weekly. For full coverage on all of today's stories, visit workboat.com. Find us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — search WorkBoat Weekly.

    WORKBOAT WEEKLY — Ep. 6 — Navy's $77B submarine order, RIB shakeup & Boston Harbor ferry refit

  2. Jul 24

    WORKBOAT WEEKLY — Ep. 5 — SHIPS for America, Korea's $150B shipbuilding bet & a Coast Guard boat racing to save veterans

    You're listening to the WorkBoat Weekly. Your quick hit on the stories shaping the commercial marine industry. Here's what's making news this week. We start in Washington, where Congress is taking its most concrete step yet toward rebuilding American shipbuilding and the U.S.-flag fleet. A House Rules Committee report on the defense authorization bill includes a sweeping maritime amendment — the SHIPS for America Act — that would fundamentally change how the government supports domestic shipping. The headline provision: doubling down on cargo preference. Right now U.S.-flag vessels are required to carry at least half of covered government cargo. This amendment would raise that to 100 percent. That's a direct pipeline of business to American operators. The proposal also creates a Maritime Security Advisor in the White House, a new interagency board to coordinate maritime policy, and a 20 billion dollar trust fund for the U.S. merchant marine. The problem it's trying to solve is stark. U.S.-flag ships carry less than 2 percent of the country's international cargo. Fewer than 200 oceangoing vessels remain under the American flag. One thing worth noting: the report makes the amendment eligible for debate. It doesn't mean it passed. But the direction is clear — and the industry has been waiting for exactly this kind of signal. Full story at workboat.com. South Korea and the United States just opened a new shipbuilding partnership center in Washington — and the dollar figure behind it is hard to ignore. One hundred and fifty billion dollars in planned Korean investment aimed squarely at rebuilding American shipbuilding capacity. The center brings together South Korea's three biggest yards — Hyundai, Hanwha, and Samsung — with U.S. partners across defense, technology, and workforce development. Fifteen agreements were signed at the launch covering everything from a new fast sealift vessel design to autonomous welding research to a welder training center in partnership with Vigor Marine. The two governments are also funding an 82 million dollar joint research program over five years covering AI ship design, yard automation, and autonomous navigation. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick set the bar plainly — success won't be measured by paperwork. It'll be measured by how many ships get built. For an industry that's spent years watching domestic capacity shrink, that's a meaningful statement backed by serious money. Full story at workboat.com. Before our final story — a quick word about Pacific Marine Expo. If you work on the West Coast, Pacific Marine Expo is the show you can't miss. This year, Expo heads to the Seattle Convention Center's Arch Building on November 19th — join fishermen, vessel operators, engineers, port officials under one roof. Register now at pacificmarineexpo.com. We close with a story about a boat with two lives — and a mission that goes well beyond the water. Freedom Fighter is a 25-foot vessel originally built for the Coast Guard after September 11 — the first of its kind off the line. After years of service it was donated to an Alaska Native village, sat on a trailer in Anchorage for nearly a decade, and was eventually purchased sight unseen by Dave Skrzecz, a 23-year Army Special Forces veteran who restored it from scratch. Now it's racing around America's Great Loop — nearly 5,000 miles — as the first national campaign for Veterans Against Suicide, the nonprofit Skrzecz founded. He and fellow veteran Mike Bucher are attempting to break a record that stands at just under 13 days. The VA reports that nearly 6,400 veterans died by suicide in 2023. That's roughly 17 every single day. Skrzecz isn't really chasing a record. He's chasing a conversation. If one veteran reaches out during the trip, he says, that's the win. A former Coast Guard rescue boat, now racing to rescue veterans. Full story at workboat.com. That's the WorkBoat Weekly. For full coverage on all of today's stories, visit workboat.com. Find us on...

    WORKBOAT WEEKLY — Ep. 5 — SHIPS for America, Korea's $150B shipbuilding bet & a Coast Guard boat racing to save veterans

  3. Jul 17

    WORKBOAT WEEKLY — Ep. 4 — Saronic goes big in Texas, Navy's new landing ship model & Wall Street meets shipbuilding

    You're listening to the WorkBoat Weekly. Your quick hit on the stories shaping the commercial marine industry. Here's what's making news this week. We start in Texas, where Saronic Technologies has picked Brownsville as the home of Port Alpha — a planned shipyard that could become one of the largest in the country. More than 3 billion dollars in planned investment. Operations targeted for 2028. The initial footprint is 835 acres at the Port of Brownsville with room to grow to nearly 4,400 acres. What makes this different from most shipyard announcements is the approach. Saronic isn't retrofitting an existing yard. They're building from the ground up around advanced manufacturing principles — designed for high throughput and efficiency from day one. Saronic president Dino Mavrookas was direct about the bigger ambition — rebuilding America's capacity to produce container ships, tankers, roll-on roll-off vessels, and icebreakers at scale. Not just defense work. Commercial too. WorkBoat readers will recognize Saronic from its Corsair autonomous surface vessels — the same boats deployed in the Strait of Hormuz. Port Alpha is the next chapter. Full story at workboat.com. Now to a major Navy contract that signals a real shift in how the government builds ships. The Navy has awarded a 2.2 billion dollar contract to TOTE Services of Jacksonville, Florida, to manage construction of its new Medium Landing Ship program. The McClung-class vessels are designed to move Marines and their equipment in contested coastal environments — 500 metric tons of cargo and up to 282 troops per ship. The full program calls for 35 vessels. First delivery expected in late 2029. What's significant isn't just the contract — it's the model. TOTE Services holds the prime contract and manages the shipyard subcontracts rather than the government doing it directly. Construction contracts will look more like commercial agreements, using off-the-shelf materials instead of military specs, with a proven Damen Shipyards design already in hand. Navy officials say this approach could cut typical contracting timelines nearly in half. TOTE Services president Jeff Dixon called it a defining moment for American shipbuilding and for this contracting model. TOTE is part of the Saltchuk family of companies. Full story at workboat.com. Before our final story — a quick word about the International WorkBoat Show. The International WorkBoat Show returns to New Orleans this December 2nd through 4th at the Morial Convention Center. Join thousands of industry professionals to network, check out the latest equipment, and learn from top industry experts. Learn more and register today at workboatshow.com. We close with a story that puts private capital behind the shipbuilding momentum we've been covering all week. JPMorganChase has announced a 24 million dollar package of loans, investments, and grants aimed at expanding shipbuilding capacity, workforce training, and the maritime supply chain in Philadelphia. The biggest piece is a 13 million dollar equity investment in Rhoads Industries to support a new submarine manufacturing facility at the Philadelphia Navy Yard — expected to create 450 permanent jobs. The rest of the package targets small business financing, supplier development, workforce training pathways, and non-degree credentials for people entering shipbuilding careers. JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon put it plainly — America can compete and lead in shipbuilding again, and it starts with skilled workers and secure supply chains. Less than 1 percent of new commercial ships are built in the United States. The country will need an estimated 250,000 new shipbuilding workers over the next decade. This is one bank's bet that the rebuild is real. Full story at workboat.com. That's the WorkBoat Weekly. For full coverage on all of today's stories, visit workboat.com. Find us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — search WorkBoat Weekly.

    WORKBOAT WEEKLY — Ep. 4 — Saronic goes big in Texas, Navy's new landing ship model & Wall Street meets shipbuilding

  4. Jun 26

    WORKBOAT WEEKLY — Ep. 3 — Acadia arrives, Jones Act backfires & ports need billions in gear

    You're listening to the WorkBoat Weekly. Your quick hit on the stories shaping the commercial marine industry. Here's what's making news this week. We start in Philadelphia, where a vessel three years late and one lawsuit deep has finally arrived — and made history in the process. Hanwha Philly Shipyard has delivered the Acadia to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock — the first subsea rock installation vessel in the U.S.-flag fleet. The 461-foot Jones Act-compliant boat installs rock on the seabed to protect subsea cables, pipelines, and offshore wind foundations. She was ordered in 2021 for nearly 200 million dollars. Getting here wasn't smooth. Great Lakes sued the shipyard in 2024 over construction delays. The vessel missed its original delivery date by more than two years. Hanwha Philly CEO David Kim called the delivery a reflection of the strength of American shipbuilding — though the circumstances made that a hard-won statement. Here's the complication. The Acadia was largely built to serve the offshore wind market — contracted to install rock for Equinor's Empire Wind project off New York and New Jersey. That market is now under pressure from the Trump administration's moves to curtail offshore wind development. Great Lakes, now part of Saltchuk Resources after a 1.5 billion dollar acquisition, will need to find work. A significant vessel. An uncertain market. Full story at workboat.com. Now to a viewpoint from our own executive editor Eric Haun that's generating real attention in the commercial marine community this week. The piece is titled simply: Jones Act flub. The argument is direct. The Trump administration's Maritime Action Plan is exactly what the domestic maritime industry has been waiting for — a real strategy to rebuild American shipbuilding, grow the mariner workforce, and restore U.S. maritime dominance. Then came the Jones Act waivers. First 60 days in March, then extended another 90 — the longest waiver in the law's history. The stated reason: fuel price pressure from the Iran conflict. The problem is the waiver didn't work. Analysts predicted it would have negligible impact on gas prices. They were right — national averages have actually risen since the waiver was issued. U.S.-flag vessels were available for nearly all of the waiver voyages anyway. And foreign operators have now moved into domestic energy trade routes that Jones Act carriers have served for decades. The collateral damage is real. One maritime investment platform reportedly paused a planned billion dollar capital raise, putting more than 2.6 billion dollars in active shipyard contracts at risk. Haun's conclusion is blunt: a policy that has failed on its own terms while undermining the very sector the administration pledged to revitalize keeps getting extended. The industry deserves a better answer. Full viewpoint at workboat.com. Before our final story — a quick word about Pacific Marine Expo. If you work on the West Coast, Pacific Marine Expo is the show you can't miss. This year, Expo heads to the Seattle Convention Center's Arch Building on November 19th — join fishermen, vessel operators, engineers, port officials under one roof. Register now at pacificmarineexpo.com. We close with a look at the investment wave reshaping U.S. port operations — and the scale of what's needed. A new survey from the National Association of Waterfront Employers puts the number at 6.7 billion dollars in cargo-handling equipment investment needed over the next five years. Cranes, yard equipment, rail systems, repairs. The message from port executives is consistent — the equipment is aging and the gap is urgent. Three projects show where the money is going right now. On the Lower Mississippi, Associated Terminals has added two all-electric cranes from Liebherr, mounted on barges built in Morgan City, Louisiana — the first of their kind in the region. Built from scratch for Mississippi River operations, not an off-the-shelf solution. In Long Beach, STAX Engineeri...

    WORKBOAT WEEKLY — Ep. 3 — Acadia arrives, Jones Act backfires & ports need billions in gear

  5. Jun 12

    WORKBOAT WEEKLY — Ep. 2 — Hybrid ferry, new Coast Guard cutters & Brett Snow's unlikely shipyard

    You're listening to the WorkBoat Weekly. Your quick hit on the stories shaping the commercial marine industry. Here's what's making news this week. Breaux Brothers flipped the hull this week — literally. The 73-foot aluminum catamaran was built upside down to give welders better access to the outer plating. Cranes from H. Brown Inc. lifted and rotated the entire structure right-side up. The propulsion system, interior, and plumbing work starts now. The vessel will run entirely on battery power during Port Houston's standard two-hour educational tours of the Houston Ship Channel — zero emissions, quiet ride, up to 150 passengers. Two backup generators stand by for extended range. Port Houston runs these tours free, twice a day, Tuesday through Saturday. They wanted something cleaner, more accessible, and better suited to education and events. Delivery is expected later this year. Full story at workboat.com. Now to a significant milestone in Coast Guard shipbuilding — one that matters for every vessel operator on the inland waterway system. The first three Waterways Commerce Cutters are officially under construction at Birdon America's shipyard in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. These are the first of 30 cutters that will replace the Coast Guard's aging inland tender fleet — the boats that maintain the buoys, markers, and infrastructure that keep America's inland waterways moving. Keel authentication ceremonies were held in March for the lead vessels of both variants — the river buoy tender and the inland construction tender. The three lead cutters are named after distinguished Coast Guard enlisted leaders: the Allen Thiele, the Fred Permenter, and the Samuel Wilson. The scale of what these vessels support is worth sitting with. The Coast Guard's 12,000-mile marine transportation system moves cargo that drives more than 5 trillion dollars in annual economic activity. Congress included 162 million dollars in the 2025 funding bill specifically to accelerate the program. First delivery expected in 2027. Full story at workboat.com. Before our final story — a quick word about the International WorkBoat Show. The International WorkBoat Show returns to New Orleans this December 2nd through 4th at the Morial Convention Center. Join thousands of industry professionals to network, check out the latest equipment, and learn from top industry experts. Learn more and register today at workboatshow.com. We close with a story that has nothing to do with contracts or tonnage — and everything to do with what it actually takes to build something from scratch. Brett Snow is the founder of Snow & Company, a 110-employee family-owned shipyard in Seattle that has become one of the more productive builders of Navy workboats and commercial vessels on the West Coast. 174 hulls and climbing. His path to shipbuilding is not conventional. He dropped out of high school to finish building a sailboat. Spent two years at a wooden boatbuilding school in Port Townsend. Left the country expecting to be gone six months and came back seven years later — having lived on a Danish island, bought a North Sea fishing vessel, and built a skiff by himself in a Portuguese shipyard dating to the 1500s. Just because he wanted to. Back in Seattle he rented a room at the end of a dock and listed a nearby payphone on his business cards. Too cheap to have his own phone, he said. Around 2000 he bought a welding machine and taught himself aluminum fabrication. In 2017 he bid on a Navy contract for 26 steel harbor tugs. Thought it'd be kind of fun. Won it, amazingly. Today Snow & Company is building an eight-boat series of 80-foot battery-powered electric ship assist tugs for the California coast — the most complex vessels they've ever built. The first, named Tuuli C after his oldest daughter, delivers in September. When asked what he's most proud of, Snow didn't mention the contracts or the tugs. My team, he said. Boats are easy. People's hard. And we got a good team. Full story at wor...

    WORKBOAT WEEKLY — Ep. 2 — Hybrid ferry, new Coast Guard cutters & Brett Snow's unlikely shipyard

  6. Jun 10

    WORKBOAT WEEKLY — Ep. 1 — June 12, 2026

    You're listening to the WorkBoat Weekly News Brief. Your quick hit on the stories shaping the commercial marine industry. Here's what's making news this week. We start in Florida, where Eastern Shipbuilding Group out of Panama City has delivered the vehicle-passenger ferry Falcon to the Fisher Island Community Association. The vessel is now in active service on the route between Fisher Island and mainland Miami. For those unfamiliar, Fisher Island is one of the wealthiest zip codes in the United States — and it's only accessible by water. The ferry is a lifeline for the Fisher Island community. The Falcon is a 152-foot steel-hulled vessel with a 52-foot beam, designed by Elliott Bay Design Group and built at Eastern's Allanton facility. She's rated to carry approximately 30 vehicles and is powered by a Caterpillar C-18 main engine producing 600 horsepower, driving a Hundested controllable pitch propeller. Navigation electronics come from Simrad, and the vessel carries nearly 10,000 gallons of fuel. Eastern Shipbuilding Group chairman and CEO Joey D'Isernia called the delivery a reflection of, quote, "the dedication, craftsmanship, and attention to detail of our shipbuilding team." Fisher Island Community Association president Robert Sosa added that the vessel will play an important role in meeting the community's transportation needs while providing a safe and comfortable passenger experience. This is the kind of delivery that doesn't make national headlines but matters enormously to the communities these vessels serve. For the full story, head to workboat.com. Now, to a story that is making national headlines. Two crewmen from a downed U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter were rescued near the Strait of Hormuz this week by a Navy surface drone — a first for the rapidly expanding unmanned fleet. The helicopter was shot down on June 8th, reportedly by Iranian forces, while patrolling near the Omani coast. The two soldiers spent approximately two hours in the water before being recovered by a 24-foot Saronic Corsair autonomous surface vessel. They were listed in stable condition. The Corsair, built by Austin-based Saronic Technologies, is a modular autonomous surface vessel capable of carrying roughly 1,000 pounds of payload, ranging over 1,000 nautical miles, and hitting speeds above 35 knots. It was designed for everything from maritime domain awareness to strike missions — and now, search and rescue. The Navy awarded Saronic a $392 million contract for these vessels back in December 2025. Operational deployment for the vessels began during the Iran conflict in March. This rescue was coordinated by U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, Task Force 59 — the Navy's drone-specialist unit — along with the 82nd Airborne Division. Here's the broader context worth sitting with: the Strait of Hormuz effectively was closed for more than 100 days. Around 20 percent of global fossil fuel supply moves through that narrow waterway. The fact that an unmanned vessel just carried out its first real-world personnel rescue there tells you something significant about where autonomous maritime systems are heading — and how fast. Full story at workboat.com. Before our final story — a quick word about the International WorkBoat Show. If you work in commercial marine, December 2nd through 4th is the date to have on your calendar. The International WorkBoat Show returns to the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. Shipbuilders, operators, engineers, equipment manufacturers, port authorities — the entire industry under one roof for three days. Registration is opening soon. Reserve your spot at workboatshow.com. Finally, a significant leadership shakeup at one of the country's most important naval shipyards. Austal USA, based in Mobile, Alabama, has confirmed Gene Miller as its new president — and simultaneously announced three additional senior appointments, signaling a deliberate effort to strengthen the yard's management depth. Miller had been...

    WORKBOAT WEEKLY — Ep. 1 — June 12, 2026
  • 6 Episodes

About

The WorkBoat Weekly news brief is an audio rundown of the top commercial marine stories selected by the WorkBoat editorial team, from newbuilds and regulatory shifts to emerging vessel tech and the people shaping the industry. New episodes every week at workboat.com.

Information

  • Creator
    WorkBoat
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    6
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © WorkBoat / Diversified Communications
  • Show Website
    WorkBoat Weekly