San Diego Ship Repair & Maritime Manufacturing Sector Partnership Brief
How the scorecard works + component scores
Partnership Opportunity and Organizing Readiness use weighted 0–4 evidence dimensions converted to 0–100. 75–100 = High, 55–74 = Moderate, below 55 = Low.
Evidence Confidence: A = direct/current/authoritative; B = strong evidence with limited caveats; C = directional/proxy evidence with important limitations; D = weak, stale or poorly aligned; U = insufficient. The grade describes the evidence, not the sector.
Host Fit separately assesses backbone suitability across industry credibility, convening power, neutrality, staffing/resilience, worker/community connection, education/workforce integration, regional reach and fiscal/administrative capacity. It does not grant employer-governance authority.
Funding durability is a qualitative status, not another score. Screen 0 tests multi-employer structure, a shared workforce problem, collective-action leverage and Worker Value; a high numeric score never overrides a failed or materially unresolved gate.
Use the existing Ship Repair Association and its Workforce Development Committee as the sector backbone. Improve shared craft forecasting, training conversion and advancement rather than creating a duplicate maritime council.
Why this case matters
Ship-repair firms already share labor, technical training, safety and Navy-readiness challenges. A 150-plus-company employer association gives the region a standing structure for collective action that is stronger than a single-anchor-employer model.
Worker value
The worker-value case is supported by above-average sector wages and skilled-trade pathways. The remaining job-quality work is to make craft-specific wage progression, apprenticeship conversion and worker/labor participation more visible.
The sector already behaves like a partnership.
The Ship Repair Association has a standing Workforce Development Committee, member dues that support workforce initiatives, and a member network that shares labor and resources on large projects. That means the decision is not whether to convene ship repair employers for the first time. It is how to use a mature employer system to improve craft supply, training and progression.
Hampton Roads Maritime Training System · Virginia
The Hampton Roads system reports more than 6,650 workers enrolled since 2024, more than 5,800 graduates entering the workforce and an 87% overall completion rate. It coordinates 38 training providers and plans to expand annual regional training capacity to nearly 10,000 by 2028.
What a WDB or regional convener could do next
The sequence is intentionally staged. The partnership should only become more formal as employer ownership, worker value and shared action become more concrete.