Analysis
NAICS 336611 is the 2022 national industry for ship building and repairing, part of 33661 (Ship and Boat Building). Census lists 26 example activities under it in the official index.
Between 2018 and 2023 the number of establishments fell 14% and employment rose 3%. The 2018 count used NAICS 2017, so part of a large move can come from codes being redefined rather than from businesses opening or closing.
County Business Patterns counts 497 US establishments in this code in 2023, employing 99,786 people at an average annual payroll of $75,961 per employee (63rd percentile of national industries). 21% of the establishments have fewer than five employees, which points to larger operations.
By establishments it ranks 2nd of the 2 codes at this level within Ship and Boat Building, with 34.8% of them.
Its index entries, the activities Census uses to assign businesses to this code, include barge building, cargo ship building, container ship building and dredge building, among 26 in all.
Its goods appear in 17 statistical lines of the US tariff schedule, mostly under headings 8901 (cruise ships, excursion boats, ferry boats, cargo ships…), 8905 (light-vessels, fire-floats, dredgers, floating cranes, and…) and 8906 (other vessels, including warships and lifeboats other than…). That link is how import data is matched to domestic producers, for example in trade-remedy cases.
Official definition
This U.S. industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in operating shipyards. Shipyards are fixed facilities with drydocks and fabrication equipment capable of building a ship, defined as watercraft typically suitable or intended for other than personal or recreational use. Activities of shipyards include the construction of ships, their repair, conversion and alteration, the production of prefabricated ship and barge sections, and specialized services, such as ship scaling.
Illustrative Examples:
Barge building Cargo ship building Drilling and production platforms, floating, oil and gas, building Passenger ship building Submarine building Yachts built in shipyards
Source: US Census Bureau, NAICS 2022 Manual.
Not this code if…
| The business mainly does | Use instead |
|---|---|
| Ship repairs performed in floating drydocks | 488390 Other Support Activities for Water Transportation |
Index entries (26)
- Barge building
- Cargo ship building
- Container ship building
- Dredge building
- Drilling and production platforms, floating, oil and gas, building
- Drydock, floating, building
- Ferryboat building
- Fireboat building
- Fishing boat, commercial, building
- Hydrofoil vessel building and repairing in shipyard
- Naval ship building
- Oil and gas offshore floating platforms manufacturing
- Passenger ship building
- Patrol boat building
- Sailing ships, commercial, manufacturing
- Ship dismantling at shipyards
- Ship repair done in a shipyard
- Ship scaling services done at a shipyard
- Ships (i.e., not suitable or intended for personal use) manufacturing
- Shipyard (i.e., facility capable of building ships)
- Submarine building
- Towboat building and repairing
- Tugboat building
- Underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) manufacturing in shipyards
- Unmanned and robotic watercraft manufacturing in shipyards
- Yachts built in shipyards