China can outbuild the United States 230-to-1 in ship tonnage — 23 million gross tons annually versus 100,000 — and now holds 57% of global shipbuilding capacity, up from 5% thirty years ago, enabled by massive state subsidies.
Dino lays out the stark shipbuilding disparity: the US builds 100,000 gross tons per year, China builds 23 million; China went from 5% to 57% of global capacity in 30 years through subsidies on raw materials, labor, and direct costs, making US-built ships 5-6x more expensive. ✦ AI generated
Dino Mavrikis · All-In Podcast · 2026-08-06 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 5:08
“So maybe from first principles you could just explain what you're building and why it's important and just how insane uh the incompetence of the West in terms of building ships has become. I mean we are really bad at making ships right now. Am I correct?”
The United States can build a 100,000 gross tons of ships every year. Gross ton is this volumetric measure of ship. So if you build, you know, a 200 foot ship, that's different than an 800 foot ship. But let's compare apples to apples. 100,000 gross tons. The Chinese, which you were referencing, can build 23 million gross tons. So, they can out build the US 230 to1. And it wasn't always the case. Right? 30 years ago, the Chinese didn't have this capability. They had 5% of the world's ship building capacity. Today, they have 57% of the world ship building capacity. And actually that problem's getting worse because the cons the communist party is just con constantly it's like subsidizing the entire industry. So they're undercutting the commercial market on price. They're not just subsidizing the direct cost to build. They're subsidizing raw material and labor costs. So the ship built in the United States is actually five to six times the cost of that same ship built in China. And so they keep getting more and more orders. So that number is of 57% is just going up.
verbatim transcript · starts at 5:08
5:05uh the incompetence of the West in terms of building ships has become. I mean we are really bad at making ships right now. Am I correct? >> We're beyond bad. Uh, let me I'll take a step back and just kind of highlight where we're at and then I'll let Vib go through what we're doing about it, how how we're changing that dynamic. But Jason, what you were saying, right, just
5:28to put it in context, the United States can build a 100,000 gross tons of ships every year. Gross ton is this volumetric measure of ship. So if you build, you know, a 200 foot ship, that's different than an 800 foot ship. But let's compare apples to apples. 100,000 gross tons. The Chinese, which you were referencing, can build 23 million gross tons. So, they can out build the US 230 to1. And
5:54it wasn't always the case. Right? 30 years ago, the Chinese didn't have this capability. They had 5% of the world's ship building capacity. Today, they have 57% of the world ship building capacity. And actually that problem's getting worse because the cons the communist party is just con constantly it's like subsidizing the entire industry. So they're undercutting the commercial market on price. They're not just subsidizing the direct cost to build.
6:22They're subsidizing raw material and labor costs. So the ship built in the United States is actually five to six times the cost of that same ship built in China. And so they keep getting more and more orders. So that number is of 57% is just going up. How did they get that capability? Is that because as a manufacturer to the world, they needed to ship out products. So they did this