Saronic Technologies, Austin, Texas, broke ground Sept. 30 on Port Alpha, a planned shipyard at the Port of Brownsville, Texas, that will build autonomous and manned vessels for defense and commercial customers.
The project represents more than $3 billion in private investment, according to the company. The initial site covers 835 acres, with an option to expand to nearly 4,400 acres. Saronic expects the yard to create up to 10,000 direct jobs over the next decade.
Vice President JD Vance and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott attended the groundbreaking alongside federal, state and local officials.
Port Alpha will initially be capable of building vessels up to 850'. Future expansion could support vessels longer than 1,200', the company said.
Saronic projects initial annual shipbuilding capacity of 150,000 gross tons, which it said would more than double current U.S. commercial shipbuilding capacity. The company said the site could eventually support annual production exceeding 2 million gross tons.
“Port Alpha is designed from the ground up to produce both autonomous and manned vessels at scale, with modularity and throughput shaping the shipyard’s architecture,” said Dino Mavrookas, Saronic’s co-founder and CEO. “This is one of the defining engineering challenges of our time, and we are building the team, partnerships, and capital base to meet it.”
Saronic plans to develop the yard in phases. Initial operations will include 1.2 million square feet of enclosed production space within a 2.5-million-square-foot production area. Plans call for eight to 10 dedicated production buildings, more than 2,500 feet of deepwater quay and two to four positions for final ship erection.
The company selected the JE Dunn | Alberici Joint Venture to construct the initial phase. Saronic did not provide an opening date or construction schedule in its announcement.
Early production will include landing craft utility vessels for the Navy. Saronic said it recently received a contract to build the logistics vessels but did not disclose the contract value, vessel count or delivery schedule.
The company said the initial phase will also allow it to establish workforce and supply-chain networks and validate its manufacturing approach as production increases. Saronic plans to serve defense and commercial customers, including U.S. allies and partners.
Workforce development efforts include collaboration with the state of Texas, Cameron County and regional educational institutions on engineering programs, technical training and apprenticeships. Planned positions range from welding and machining to robotics, software engineering and naval architecture.
