“It’s about as futuristic as you can get,” says Michael Hecht, president and CEO of Greater New Orleans, Inc., a non-profit business development organization, speaking of the work being done by Metal Shark in Jeanerette, Louisiana, in partnership with HavocAI in Providence, Rhode Island, to build autonomous vessels for the U.S. Navy that integrate artificial intelligence into unmanned vessels. 

Hecht hails what he identifies as a revival of shipbuilding in Louisiana. “What you’re seeing right now in Louisiana is a coming together of our historical expertise in shipbuilding combined with new needs in defense, aerospace and energy,” he says. 

He points to the announcement October 10 that Bollinger Shipyards, based in Houma, Louisiana, had landed a $6 billion contract to build four new Arctic icebreakers for the U.S. Coast Guard, part of a larger U.S.–Finland partnership to produce 11 Arctic Security Cutters. The project, at what Hecht describes as a “great legacy shipyard” will support as many as 600 local jobs, and help NATO defend the Arctic, he says. 

Another maritime-related upgrade is the new $1.8 billion container terminal being built down-river from New Orleans in St. Bernard Parish, which will accommodate neo-post-Panamax vessels too large to get under the bridge that bars them from entering the Port of New Orleans. 

It’s a small, but potentially significant start. The U.S. is shortly to produce a Maritime Action Plan (MAP), according to a November 5 deadline set by the administration of Donald Trump April 9, as part of a push to revive America’s once formidable shipbuilding and crewing industry. The U.S. has gone from building 5% of the world’s oceangoing commercial ships in the 1970s to about 0.2% today, measured by gross tonnage. American-born crews are now a vanishing rarity, too.

The White House has called for “a comprehensive approach that includes securing consistent, predictable, and durable Federal funding, making United States-flagged and built vessels commercially competitive in international commerce, rebuilding America’s maritime manufacturing capabilities… and expanding and strengthening the recruitment, training and retention of the relevant workforce.”

Supporting these goals is a series of proposed and in-force government fees levied against Chinese-built and foreign-operated vessels entering U.S. ports — reciprocated by China with similar charges — that earlier in October saw Atlantic Container Line slapped with fees that would amount to a total of $34 million a year, according to CNBC.

Read More: Reviving U.S. Shipbuilding: Is It Realistic?

According to Hecht and other industry commentators, the future, in Louisiana, at least, lies in building more modest vessels that make the most of advanced technology, rather than giant containerships, bulk carriers and tankers. “We still have to recognize that the advantage of Louisiana and America is going to be in building these smaller, tech-forward vessels,” says Hecht. “Because, when you consider the cost of building these big ships, the EU and the U.S. can’t compete with China, Korea and even Japan.” 

There’s no talk at present of reviving the heyday of shipbuilding on the Mississippi, dominated by Bollinger, Southern Shipbuilding and Avondale Shipyards, which in any case built mostly navy vessels, drilling barges, offshore oil rigs and smaller commercial vessels, such as tugs and fishing boats.

Still, the trend in manufacturing high-tech vessels seems to be real. In April, Texas-based Saronic announced it had bought the historically significant shipyard in Franklin, Louisiana, and will invest $250 million and create 500 jobs, for the manufacturing of  autonomous vessels — essentially large “water drones” — for military and commercial clients. The Franklin shipyard has a history dating back to 1965, originally producing a wide range of vessels like pilot boats and crew boats. Hecht says these new, autonomous vessels, which can operate without crews, allow mid-sized Louisiana yards to compete in one of the fastest-growing sectors of maritime technology. 

Saronic says its long-term vision is a larger, next-generation shipyard called Port Alpha, which will be built starting in 2026 with a multibillion-dollar investment to mass-produce autonomous ships on an even larger scale.

And in July, Bollinger announced its latest project in the commercial spaceflight industry: converting a barge into a landing platform for Rocket Lab. Bollinger has also supported ventures like United Launch Alliance and Space Perspective, demonstrating how Louisiana shipyards are now building “ships for spaceships.”

“Louisiana’s shipbuilding industry has always been defined by innovation. From Higgins Industries’ landing craft that helped win World War II, to Textron’s hovercraft in New Orleans East, the Bayou State has continuously charted the course of maritime history,” says Hecht. “This innovation continues today, yet perhaps at a bigger and faster rate than ever.”