President Trump and some members of Congress want to revive a depleted American shipbuilding industry to compete with China, the world’s biggest maker of ships by far.

美国总统特朗普和部分国会议员想重振日渐衰落的美国造船业，让其与全球目前最大的船舶制造国中国竞争。

It is such a daunting goal that some shipping experts say it is destined to fail. More hopeful analysts and industry executives say the Trump administration and Congress could succeed but only if they are willing to spend billions of dollars over many years.

这个目标如此艰巨，以至于一些航运专家完全不看好。也有乐观的分析师和业内高管认为，特朗普政府和国会有成功的可能，但前提是他们愿意在未来持续多年投入数十亿美元的资金。

One of the places where Washington’s maritime dreams might take shape or fall apart is a shipyard on the southern edge of Philadelphia that was bought last year by one of the world’s largest shipbuilding companies, a South Korean conglomerate known as Hanwha.

位于费城南郊的一家造船厂也许是美国政府的海事梦想可能成真也可能破灭的地点之一，全球最大的造船公司之一、韩国的韩华集团已在去年收购了这家造船厂。

“The shipbuilding industry in America is ready to step up,” David Kim, the chief executive of Hanwha Philly Shipyard, said in an interview.

“美国造船业已为重振雄风做好了准备，”韩华费城造船厂的首席执行官戴维·金在接受采访时说。

But to do that, he said, the yard must have a steady stream of orders for new vessels. And the federal government will need policies that subsidize American-built ships and penalize the use of foreign vessels by shipping companies that call on U.S. ports.

但要实现复兴，造船厂需要有源源不断的新船订单，他说。而且，联邦政府需要出台政策为在美国造船提供补贴，同时惩罚使用外国船只的航运公司在美国港口停靠。

Last month, Mr. Trump issued an executive order aimed at revitalizing American shipbuilding. “We’re going to be spending a lot of money on shipbuilding,” he said when announcing the order. “We’re way, way, way behind.”

上个月，特朗普签署了一项旨在振兴美国造船业的行政命令。“我们将对造船业投入重金，”他在宣布行政命令时说。“我们太、太、太落后了。”

The Office of the United States Trade Representative set new rules in April that penalize Chinese ships and require that certain commercial vessels be built in the United States. In Congress, lawmakers from both parties are pushing a sprawling bill that contains significant subsidies to bolster American shipbuilding.

美国贸易代表办公室今年4月出台新规，惩罚中国船舶，并强制要求特定商用船舶必须在美国本土建造。在国会，两党议员正在推动一个包罗万象的法案，其中包含提振美国造船业的巨额补贴。

But there is much to overcome.

但仍有许多挑战需要克服。

The Philadelphia yard won’t have space for new orders until 2027, and other American shipyards are so tied up with filling orders for the Navy that they don’t have the capacity to produce commercial vessels.

费城造船厂的新订单排期已至2027年，其他美国造船厂因为海军订单而饱和，无力承接商用船舶的建造。

It takes far longer to build ships in the United States than in Asia, and costs nearly five times as much. The Philadelphia yard makes roughly a ship and a half a year, compared with around a ship a week at Hanwha’s larger facilities in its home country, Mr. Kim said.

在美国造船需要的时间远超亚洲，成本更是后者的近五倍。据金介绍，费城这家造船厂每年的产能大约是1.5艘，而韩华在韩国的大型造船厂每周大约造出一艘船。

But the company would bring methods, like automated welding, he added, to speed up production at the roughly 115-acre yard in Philadelphia. Mr. Kim declined to say how much the company intended to invest in its U.S. shipyard, which it bought for $100 million.

但他还说，公司将把新方法引进到占地面积约46公顷的费城造船厂，比如自动化的焊接技术，以加快生产速度。韩华花了1亿美元收购该厂，金拒绝透露公司打算在这家美国造船厂投入多少资金。

Colin Grabow, an associate director at the Cato Institute, a research organization that favors fewer government regulations of business and the economy, said the shipbuilding push gave him an uneasy sense of déjà vu.

卡托研究所是一家主张减少政府对商业和经济监管的研究机构，该所副所长科林·格拉博说，造船业振兴计划让他有一种似曾相识的不安感。

Previous government efforts to encourage domestic shipbuilding largely failed, including an effort to produce more commercial vessels in Philadelphia after the closing of the naval base in the city in 1995. “We’ve been down this road before,” Mr. Grabow said.

美国政府此前推动本土造船业的努力大多以失败告终，包括政府1995年关闭了费城海军基地后，旨在提振当地商船制造的举措。“我们以前经历过这些，”格拉博说。

In addition to China, ships that transport goods to or from the United States are built in Japan, South Korea and other friendly countries. These vessels are typically owned and operated by global shipping companies, many of them based in Europe and Asia.

除了在中国制造外，往来美国的货轮也在日本、韩国以及其他友邦制造。这些船通常由全球航运公司拥有和运营，其中许多公司把总部设在欧洲和亚洲。

But as Chinese commercial vessel production soared in recent years, lawmakers in Washington became concerned that China was gaining a nearly unassailable strategic advantage.

但随着中国商用船只产量近年来飙升，华盛顿的立法者们担心中国正在获得几乎无法摧毁的战略优势。

“It’s just become a stampede,” said Michael Roberts, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative research group that favors government backing for American shipbuilding.

“这简直是个势不可挡的浪潮，”支持政府扶持美国造船业的保守派研究机构哈德逊研究所的高级研究员迈克尔·罗伯茨说。

韩华费城造船厂的首席执行官戴维·金说，公司将引进自动焊接等方法，以加快生产速度。

In the last 10 years, Chinese shipbuilders delivered 6,765 commercial ships, nearly half of global deliveries, according to data from BRS Shipbrokers. Japan delivered 3,130, South Korea 2,405 and the United States just 37.

据BRS船舶经纪公司的数据，过去10年里，中国造船企业总共交付了6765艘商用船只，几乎占全球交付量的一半。日本交付了3130艘，韩国交付了2405艘，美国只交付了37艘。

The few American-made vessels that shipping lines do buy usually transport cargo solely between American ports. Under the Jones Act, a more-than-100-year-old law, such voyages can be served only by U.S.-built vessels.

航运公司购买为数不多的美国造的船通常只是为了在美国港口之间运输货物。根据一百多年前生效的《琼斯法案》，这类航运只能由美国制造的船舶运营。

An order for three Jones Act-compliant container ships, struck by the previous owner of the Philadelphia shipyard, cost around $330 million a vessel. A similar size ship built in Asia would cost about $70 million, said James Lightbourn, founder of Cavalier Shipping, a ship financing advisory firm.

费城造船厂以前的拥有者曾收到三个购买符合《琼斯法案》集装箱船的订单，每艘船的造价约为3.3亿美元。船舶融资咨询公司Cavalier Shipping的创始人詹姆斯·莱特伯恩指出，在亚洲造一艘类似载量的船，造价只约为7000万美元。

In their shipbuilding bill, Democratic and Republican lawmakers seek to address the cost difference by subsidizing shipping companies to put 250 American-made vessels operated with American crews into a “strategic commercial fleet.” The secretary of defense could call on the vessels for supply missions.

在两党议员的造船法案中，他们寻求通过为航运公司提供补贴来解决造船成本差异问题，办法是用250艘由美国制造、美国船员操作的船舶组建一支“战略商业船队”。国防部长能调用这些船舶执行补给任务。

Lawmakers hope that assembling such a fleet and other incentives will not only provide a steady stream of orders for American shipbuilders, but also help them grow and become more efficient.

议员们希望，组建这样一支船队以及相关激励措施，不仅将能为美国造船商们提供源源不断的订单，还能帮助它们发展壮大、提升效率。

Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat of Arizona and a sponsor of the legislation, described it as “the most ambitious effort in a generation to revitalize the U.S. shipbuilding and commercial maritime industries, and counter China’s dominance over the ocean.”

亚利桑那州的联邦参议员、民主党人马克·凯利是该法案的发起人之一，他把法案描述为“一代人以来最雄心勃勃的努力，目的是振兴美国的造船业和商业海运业，对抗中国在海洋的主导地位”。

Critics of the bill contend that it would provide endless subsidies to high-cost shipbuilders. A better approach to countering China’s dominance, they say, would be to make up the strategic fleet with vessels made in Japan and South Korea, both U.S. allies and proven shipbuilders.

该法案的批评者认为，它将为高成本的造船厂提供没完没了的补贴。他们认为，对抗中国主导地位的更好办法是用日本和韩国造的船组建战略船队，这两国不仅造船技术成熟，更是可靠伙伴。

But Mr. Kim, the Hanwha executive, said many products, not just ships, cost more to make in the United States, and he added that outsourcing shipbuilding to other countries had contributed to the withering of American production.

但韩华集团高管金先生说，许多产品在美国制造的成本都更高，不只是船舶。他还表示，将造船业外包给其他国家已导致了美国制造业的萎缩。

“It’s not just about business,” he said. “It’s about the country, it’s about labor, and it’s about priorities and strategic decisions.”

“这不只是个商业问题，”他说，“这关乎国家，关乎劳动力，也关乎优先事项和战略决策。”

Washington’s grand designs for shipping include the tankers that carry liquefied natural gas, which are much more complex to manufacture than ships that carry containers. The Trump administration’s new shipping rules require that an increasing portion of these ships be built in the United States within several years.

华盛顿为航运业制定的宏图大略包括液化天然气运输船，这种船舶的制造难度远高于集装箱船。特朗普政府的新航运规则要求在未来几年里，美国建造的液化天然气运输船的比例必须不断提升。

Hanwha has produced 200 such vessels in South Korea, and Mr. Kim said the dry docks at the Philadelphia yard were big enough to accommodate certain L.N.G. carriers.

韩华集团在韩国已经制造了200艘液化天然气运输船，金表示，费城船厂的干船坞足够大，能制造某些液化天然气运输船。

But even if Hanwha successfully transfers its manufacturing expertise to the United States, it may struggle to find skilled workers. It is planning to double the size of its work force from 1,500 employees in less than 10 years, Kelly Whitaker, a spokeswoman for Hanwha Philly, said.

但即使韩华集团成功地将制造技术转移到美国，熟练工人的短缺仍是巨大挑战。韩华费城的发言人凯利·惠特克表示，公司计划在不到10年的时间里将员工人数从1500人增加到3000人。

Next year it wants to double the size of its apprentice class to 240 trainees. Niecey Zlomek, who moved to Philadelphia from Baltimore eight years ago, joined Hanwha Philly as an apprentice in January and is earning $22 an hour.

明年，公司打算将学徒班的招生规模翻一番，达到240名学员。尼西·兹洛梅克八年前从巴尔的摩搬到了费城，她已在今年1月加入韩华费城当学徒，工资是每小时22美元。

“This is probably the best job I’ve had since I’ve lived here,” she said. Ms. Zlomek has so far worked on three vessels, helping to install a bow thruster, a type of propulsion system, and a conveyance system for large rocks.

“这可能是我搬到这里后找到的最好工作，”她说。到目前为止，兹洛梅克已参与了三艘船的建造工作，协助安装船首推进器和大型石料运送系统。

Even when shipbuilders do manage to recruit workers, they have often struggle to keep them. Shipyards building naval vessels lose many of their first-year employees, Brett Seidle, an acting assistant secretary of the Navy, said at a congressional hearing in March.

即使造船厂找到了工人，往往也难以留住他们。海军代理助理部长布雷特·塞德尔在今年3月的国会听证会上说，建造海军舰艇的船厂每年招收的新员工中，许多人干了不到一年就走了。

The Trump administration and lawmakers favor policies aimed at training many more mariners to work on American-built vessels. The shipping bill would subsidize the cost of using more expensive U.S. crews.

特朗普政府和立法者们支持的政策还包括，培训更多在美国制造的船舶上工作的海员。拟议中的航运法案将为使用工资更高的美国船员提供补贴。

Roland Rexha, secretary-treasurer of the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association, a union for American maritime officers, said such policies were necessary. “As China subsidizes their industry completely,” he said, “we have to find a way to make incentivizing cargo a centerpiece to maritime revitalization.”

美国海事高级职员工会——海事工程师福利协会的秘书兼财务主管罗兰·雷克萨说，有必要制定此类政策。“由于中国对它的造船业提供全方位补贴，”他说，“我们不得不找到办法，把对货运的激励作为振兴海运业的核心。”

Mr. Rexha said being an officer on an American vessel serving international routes could be a lucrative, satisfying career. Officers make over $200,000 a year and can retire with a pension after 20 years. Though mariners are away for three months at a time, he said, they are at home for three-month spells. “You are focused on your family. You are focused on your children.”

雷克萨说，在一艘服务于国际航线的美国船舶上担任高级职员可能是一份收入丰厚、令人满意的职业。海事高级职员的年薪超过20万美元，工作20年就能拿养老金退休。他说，虽然海员每次出海的时间是三个月，但他们也能在家里住上三个月。“把精力都花在家庭上，花在孩子们身上。”