Sounds like it just means if we’re having problems with dredges it might not really be an issue of building them. I think maybe the question is what is preventing a business, person or government agency from buying such ships? I might get with governmental actors approvals might be highly biased towards US built. Then given the problem with size (and likely willingness to pay economically viable prices—we do a REALLY BAD job with this type of maintenance activity due to wanting to spend the money on more visible or “profitable” activities with more immediate returns) having local ship builders to make the required ships is under provided.
Here it is in the US Code on the US House’s website.
What does “Unless documented as a vessel of the United States” mean?
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/9
Sounds like it just means if we’re having problems with dredges it might not really be an issue of building them. I think maybe the question is what is preventing a business, person or government agency from buying such ships? I might get with governmental actors approvals might be highly biased towards US built. Then given the problem with size (and likely willingness to pay economically viable prices—we do a REALLY BAD job with this type of maintenance activity due to wanting to spend the money on more visible or “profitable” activities with more immediate returns) having local ship builders to make the required ships is under provided.