I share the same feelings. The thing is that these foreign companies won't ask the US for permission. And if it's profitable, they will (eventually) do it. Yes

I share the same feelings. The thing is that these foreign companies won't ask the US for permission. And if it's profitable, they will (eventually) do it. Yes, such ships will likely have to stay away from the US territorial waters, but there's plenty of routes where this won't be a problem. As for tight margins: fuel costs represent 50%-60% of overall costs ([1]) and if these expenses are replaced with CapEx (hopefully, benefiting from economy of scale), then the tight operational margins suddenly become amazing, and there's a room for quality. 1. https://www.morethanshipping.com/fuel-costs-ocean-shipping/ https://www.morethanshipping.com/fuel-costs-ocean-shipping/