US shipbuilders, ports take knock-on hit from Trump assault on offshore wind

By Nichola Groom

(Reuters) -U.S. shipbuilders and port operators are getting hit in the fallout from President Donald Trump’s campaign to wipe out the offshore wind industry, suffering hundreds of millions of dollars in lost government support, vanishing vessel orders, and an uncertain future for the billions of dollars' worth of investments.

The impact represents an unintended consequence of Trump’s policy on the offshore wind industry, which has included stop-work orders and permit reviews for massive projects that were spurred by former President Joe Biden's green investment policy.

Trump calls offshore wind an unsightly and inefficient technology that harms whales and birds. But he is also a huge supporter of U.S. maritime industries that he views as crucial in the global competition for trade and military dominance of the high seas.

"He has a counterproductive argument," said Joe Orgeron, a Republican Louisiana state representative and former offshore vessel business owner, who pointed out the offshore wind industry was responsible for many ship orders in recent years. “That all came to a sudden halt, unfortunately."

Reuters interviewed 13 port representatives, shipbuilders and trade groups who detailed the knock-on impacts of Trump’s policy moves targeting offshore wind, the details of which are reported here for the first time.

The impacts include more than $679 million worth of canceled Department of Transportation financing for ports to support offshore wind, including a $34 million grant for a facility in Salem, Massachusetts that was expected to generate $75 million in tax revenue over 20 years and create 800 jobs.

Meanwhile, orders for new offshore wind service vessels - designed to carry workers and huge turbines offshore or to lay undersea cable - have also disappeared, according to trade group Oceantic, following a busy 2024 that saw the launch of at least 10 U.S. vessels built to serve offshore wind.

Existing vessels are also being sold off, or considered for redeployment to other global regions, according to the reporting.

The Trump administration said it can revive the U.S. shipbuilding and port industry, which has suffered from years of cost-inflation and a dearth of government support, without offshore wind’s support.

"This administration will restore America’s maritime dominance by modernizing our ports and expanding our shipbuilding capacities to compete with communist China," the U.S. Department of Transportation told Reuters.

"We’re also doing it as quickly and cost-effectively as possible— two attributes completely absent in offshore wind manufacturing."