“. All too true. If not for the Jones Act, the US commercial shipbuilding sector would expire. The problem is high US wage rates ...”
Japan has a major share of world ship construction, and they are not a low wage-based economy. They also have higher energy costs.
The problem is incompetence, corruption and greed of US and generally, Anglosphere Corporate managers.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1256561/global-shipbuilding-capacity-by-country/
True, to a degree. Keep in mind though that Japan has a complex schedule of subsidies and incentives that favor her shipbuilding industry. Now though, Korea is undercutting Japan on cost. And there is that strong dollar problem.