Stockton mayor wants city to be national hub for shipbuilding
STOCKTON — Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi is staking a claim to make her city a national shipbuilding hub.
This move comes as President Donald Trump seeks to resurrect the industry in the U.S.
"I want Stockton to be the national hub for shipbuilding here in the United States of America," Fugazi said. "We can do this here. We can do it sooner. We can do it stronger, and we can do it better."
The massive Port of Stockton with 4,000 acres is the largest inland deep-water port in California and has been a shipbuilding center before.
The U.S. Navy built ships there during World War II. Some of the old Navy buildings are still standing.
Port of Stockton Director Kirk DeJesus drove CBS13 around the port on a day a Panamanian registered ship was offloading steel coils.
"The west complex is where all the shipbuilding happened back in World War II," DeJesus said. "I think determining what the scope would be and what type of shipbuilding would happen here is something we'd need to know. If that's the case, then we would throw our hat in the ring that we are a viable and ready asset to make that happen."
President Trump announced he is creating a White House Office of Shipbuilding after a recent report showed China now builds half the world's commercial ships and now has the world's largest naval fleet.
As the president seeks a return to the nation's shipbuilding past, Stockton's mayor says the solution is right here.
"We have the space. We have the workforce," Fugazi said. "I couldn't think of a better location than right here at our Stockton port."
Mayor Fugazi said that she will be going to Washington, D.C., in May to try and make this shipbuilding hub happen.
