$24 million investment in Philly shipbuilding as Trump presses for defense buildup
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A new investment in Philadelphia’s growing shipbuilding industry and related worker-training programs is on its way as the Trump administration presses for a national revitalization of maritime and military manufacturing.
JPMorgan Chase’s announcement of $24 million in loans and grants in Philly comes as its CEO Jamie Dimon participates in a two-day defense and innovation conference in Carlisle organized by U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick. President Donald Trump and Gov. Josh Shapiro are scheduled to speak there Wednesday, and dozens of top defense industry executives are attending.
The banking firm’s new investments include $13 million for Rhoads Industries, which is based at the South Philadelphia Navy Yard. The company is building a 95,000-square-foot submarine facility that will create 450 new jobs for welders, electricians and other workers. Dimon was expected to visit Philly Wednesday to announce the funding.
The investment is part of a broad generational upswing in manufacturing that will transform Philadelphia and the region in the coming years, argued Chris Scafario, CEO of the Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center, which is based in the Navy Yard.
“There are hundreds, if not thousands, of open positions that are being created or are created, waiting for the skilled workforce to sign on and be a part of just an incredible career path that’s going to really reshape the region’s industrial base,” said Scafario, who is attending the Carlisle conference.
“We are really at a crossroads where manufacturing careers once again provide this on-ramp to a middle and maybe even upper-middle class that was almost unimaginable as little as 10 years ago,” he said.
Reinforcing Philly’s leadership in manufacturing
Mayor Cherelle Parker, who often talks about the potential for thousands of new jobs at the Navy Yard, praised the bank for “investing in our people.”
“They’re helping create the kind of opportunities that let someone learn a new skill, earn a good paycheck and build a better life for themselves and their family,” she said, in a statement provided by JPMorgan Chase. Parker said the city is creating “more pathways to family-sustaining careers and more opportunities for Philadelphians to help build America’s future.”
City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, whose district includes the Navy Yard, said it has “long been one of the most important economic engines in our city” and applauded the new investments for “reinforcing Philadelphia’s role as a leader in American manufacturing.”
In addition to the Rhoads investment, JPMorgan Chase will provide a low-cost loan to the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation for small business lending, and a grant to PIDC and Scafario’s organization, DVIRC, to provide technical assistance to maritime suppliers. The Greater Philadelphia Growth Partnership and the University City District will receive grants for workforce development programs.
The bank said the investments come out of two of its programs: the American Dream Initiative to expand opportunity through investments in local communities, and the Security and Resiliency Initiative, a $1.5 trillion, 10-year plan to invest in industries critical to U.S. economic and national security.
Scafario said JPMorgan Chase is making “trial balloon” investments in manufacturing across the country with an eye toward possibly putting more resources into the sector in the future.
“It’s a really clear and obvious good choice to kind of bet on an industry that is all over the news right now, and it’s really an imperative that we get our traction set up so that we can start building ships at a pace to regain some level of competitiveness,” he said.
Job growth at the Navy Yard
Trump has called for a major expansion of American shipbuilding for both military and commercial purposes, in large part to counter China.
In an executive order issued last year he noted that the U.S. builds well below 1% of the world’s commercial ships, while China produced about half of the vessels. JPMorgan Chase and other analysts say the Iran War, the Russian-Ukraine conflict and tensions with China have exposed the vulnerability of U.S. supply chains and the potential damage to the economy if the country lost access to foreign-made ships.
The U.S. has fewer than 190 flagged merchant vessels, many of them built abroad, compared to nearly 3,000 in the 1960s, per JPMorgan Chase.
Some analysts also say the U.S. Navy must expand its fleet substantially to match the growth of China’s military. The Navy reportedly plans to build a new battleship and several other vessels, including a new frigate and unmanned, semi-autonomous corvettes armed with long-range weapons, and it is spending billions to speed up the production of nuclear-powered submarines.
Rhoads Industries last year announced a $100 million expansion at the Navy Yard and said it will nearly double its workforce to close to 1,000 employees. The company assembles electric propulsion units for Northrop Grumman’s Navy submarines and provides services to General Dynamics’ submarine division.
Separately, Korean shipbuilder Hanwha last year announced a $5 billion infrastructure plan for its shipyard in South Philadelphia, which it acquired in 2024, along with plans to hire up to 10,000 people over five years. The firm says it will produce liquid natural gas carriers, oil tankers, components for Navy ships, and eventually full naval vessels.
JPMorgan Chase is making a $13 million New Market Tax Credit equity investment in Rhoads as part of a larger $40 million NMTC transaction, the bank said.
It’s providing PIDC’s lending arm a $5 million long-term, low-cost loan to support up to 15 small business loans for projects such as commercial real estate acquisition and construction. PIDC and DVIRC will receive a $1.5 million grant to give technical assistance to up to 100 commercial maritime suppliers.
The Greater Philadelphia Growth Partnership, which represents economic development organizations in the five Southeast Pennsylvania counties, will get a $2.4 million grant to boost its job-creation activities.
Another $2 million will go to the Skills Initiative at University City District to provide training for 300 area residents, “with a focus on expanding non-degree pathways into higher-wage roles aligned with shipbuilding and advanced manufacturing,” JPMorgan Chase said.
