Unions, politicians meet on Boston waterfront to push for domestic shipbuilding policies

The US Naval Ship Burlington in drydock at Boston Ship Repair in South Boston in 2023.Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff

Union leaders and three members of New England’s congressional delegation are heading to Boston’s industrial waterfront on Tuesday to push for federal policies that will promote domestic shipbuilding and ship repair work.

Representatives Joe Courtney of Connecticut and Jared Golden of Maine are expected to join Representative Stephen Lynch for a press conference on Lynch’s home turf in South Boston, alongside leaders from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, also known as the IAM, at Boston Ship Repair, owner of one of the last operating drydocks on the East Coast.

IAM vice president David Sullivan said the press conference is aimed in part at generating support for what’s known as the SHIPS for America Act as well as the federal Office of the US Trade Representative’s plan to impose fees on Chinese-built (or Chinese-owned) ships that visit US ports.

The new bipartisan federal legislation aims to support the sector with tax credits and a new trust fund that could be used for education and workforce training, among other incentives. The USTR’s investigation into Chinese trade practices started under President Joe Biden, but it’s currently being championed by the Trump administration.

The handful of ships commissioned each year in the United States, Sullivan said, represents a threat to national security as China churns out more than 1,000 every year.

Boston Ship Repair was chosen as a backdrop in part because the unionized workforce has dwindled in recent years, to around 50 to 60 today from a peak of around 300, as work assignments slowed down. Restaurateur-turned-developer Jon Cronin owns the shipyard, and Boston Ship Repair chief executive Ed Snyder is expected to speak at the event.

“We want to push, push, push, because we know we’re so far behind China, and our national security is really at risk,” Sullivan said. “We have to make sure we have these shipyards. We can’t lose Boston Ship Repair, with the drydock they have, this far Northeast. We have to keep these things running, keep them in good shape, in case of times of war.”