MARITIME PROSPERITY ZONES: WHAT THEY ARE, WHY THEY MATTER, AND WHAT COMES NEXT FOR VIRGINIA
Policymakers have begun to recognize the need for action to
address vulnerabilities and lagging production and capacity in
America’s maritime industries. The Maritime Prosperity Zone
(“MPZ”) concept is an example of an initiative to address this
problem that could also provide massive benefits to Virginia
ports and coastal regions.
MPZs have the potential to attract
significant private investment into Virginia’s maritime industry
and jumpstart industry revitalization.
MPZs are emerging as a centerpiece of the federal government’s
broader effort to strengthen the U.S. maritime industrial base,
supply chain resilience, and port-related economic development.
While still in the formative stages, MPZs are intended to be
geographically designated areas where federal, state, and private
investment efforts are coordinated to accelerate maritime
activity, workforce development, infrastructure modernization,
and national security objectives.
President Trump’s Executive Order 14269, “Restoring America’s
Maritime Dominance,”1 and subsequent Maritime Action Plan
(“MAP”), established MPZs as an economic development policy
tool to accelerate the revitalization of the country’s maritime,
shipbuilding, and ship repair industries. MPZs will be modeled
after the “opportunity zone” concept included in the Tax Cuts
and Jobs Act of 2017. As a refresher, opportunity zones are
designated low‑income census tracts where investors can defer
and potentially reduce capital gains taxes by investing in qualifying
long‑term investments that promote economic development in
those areas.2
Likewise, MPZs are designed to concentrate proposed financing
and tax incentives within a geographic area to encourage long-term investment. The Secretary of Commerce is to designate
one hundred (100) MPZs each for a period of ten (10) years,
which are to represent geographically diverse areas, including
both traditional ports and surrounding areas and navigable rivers,
the Great Lakes, and areas outside the continental United States.3 MPZ designation should take into account “maritime supply chain
entities, workforce development and educational institutions, and
advanced manufacturing initiatives to strengthen industrial base
capacity and readiness.”4 MPZs will also incorporate provisions
of the opportunity zone program recently updated in the “One
Big Beautiful Bill” Act. Lastly, the MAP also stated that the
Administration would include MPZs in its legislative proposals
along with the FY2027 budget.5 Using the opportunity zone
example as a guide, maritime-related businesses located within
the MPZs are poised to benefit greatly from various tax and other
financial/regulatory benefits once those details are finalized in
the law.
Virginia’s Congressional Delegation has already begun pitching
Hampton Roads for designation as an MPZ, emphasizing its
existing status as a critical hub for shipbuilding, ship repair, and
logistics—an ideal candidate to quickly attract capital investment
and demonstrate measurable results. While MPZs are still a
fledgling concept, one can be confident this initiative will soon
become reality, considering the intense focus on these policy
issues and this Administration’s priorities. Virginia policymakers
and industry leaders, as well as business owner‑operators and
investors, should monitor relevant legislation and executive
actions closely, stay apprised of developments as MPZ policy
takes shape, and as applicable, position themselves to structure
compliant investment vehicles and deploy capital once program
benefits are finalized and codified.
Published in the May 2026 Virginia Maritime Bulletin