Giant container ships are still being built as pandemic rages
The container ship Matsonia, above, has been under construction since 2018.
Almost everything at an American shipyard exists at enormous scale. Vessels are constructed over years. Experience is developed over decades. The work is so spread out across the yard and over time that, to the untrained eye, it can be difficult to tell what is being hammered, wired or welded — and whether it’s right-side up or upside down.
When finished, more than 100 pieces are fused into a hulking mass of metal to be set afloat to connect an ever-shrinking world.
Large container ships play an almost incalculable role in the modern economy, responsible for delivering the vast majority of the products we buy. They make up a circulatory system that carries more than 90% of all traded goods.
Shipyards, like one in San Diego run by General Dynamics NASSCO, keep those vessels moving.
The current ship under construction in San Diego is the Matsonia. Four years ago, Matson, a transportation logistics company, signed a $500 million contract with NASSCO to build it and an identical one.
But not all container ships are the same. These two were designed to carry both cargo containers hoisted aboard and cars and trucks driven into the ship’s garage.
As container ships go, the Matsonia is modest in size. But size is relative in shipping. Once it is seaworthy, likely by the end of the year, the Matsonia will stretch the length of more than two football fields and be capable of carrying thousands of 20-foot-long containers and 500 cars and trucks — as much as 57,400 tons of cargo in total.
In the United States, large shipyards have been on the decline for decades, losing orders for massive commercial ships to cheaper foreign competition. Today, more than 90% of global shipbuilding takes place in China, South Korea and Japan.
What industry does remain in the United States is supported by the federal government, which orders American-made ships of all kinds, from Coast Guard cutters to naval aircraft carriers.
The federal involvement has helped to preserve the vitality of the 124 remaining active U.S. shipyards, which, according to government estimates, contribute more than $37 billion in annual economic output and support about 400,000 jobs.
The work never stops, even during a pandemic.
Considered an essential business, especially because of its government contracts, NASSCO didn’t halt its operations as the spread of the coronavirus forced workplaces to close and communities to carry out shelter-in-place measures.
NASSCO has found ways to follow new safety protocols and social distancing. Worksites were cleaned more frequently, and handwashing stations popped up across the yard. Some processes were altered to allow for fewer close interactions among the workers.
A typical commercial ship takes NASSCO about three years to complete, including roughly 12 to 16 months of detailed design and planning. Construction of the Matsonia began in 2018.