Saronic Technologies has officially started construction on its $3 billion Port Alpha shipyard in Brownsville, Texas. This marks the transition of one of the largest new shipbuilding projects in the U.S. to the construction phase after a lengthy planning period.
Vice President JD Vance and Texas Governor Greg Abbott attended the groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday at the Port of Brownsville, joining Saronic executives in the celebration.
Saronic chose Brownsville for Port Alpha back in July, sharing plans for a shipyard that will construct both autonomous and crewed vessels aimed at defense and commercial markets. The initial area covers 835 acres, but there are options to expand it up to nearly 4,400 acres in the future. Operations at the shipyard are expected to commence in 2028.
The company projects that Port Alpha will have an annual shipbuilding capacity of about 150,000 gross tons, which would significantly more than double the current capacity for commercial shipbuilding in the U.S. Initially, the yard will be equipped to build vessels up to 850 feet in length, with plans for future expansions to accommodate ships longer than 1,200 feet.
The first phase of the project includes 1.2 million square feet of indoor production space across eight to ten buildings, more than 2,500 feet of deepwater quay, and two to four areas for the final assembly of ships. Additionally, Saronic plans to have an annual steel-processing capacity of around 75,000 tonnes.
JE Dunn and Alberici have been chosen as the joint-contractor for the initial construction phase.
“American shipbuilding needs to be revitalized for the future,” said Dino Mavrookas, co-founder and CEO of Saronic. He emphasized that the facility will focus on modular construction and increased production efficiency for both autonomous and traditional ships.
Port Alpha is being developed alongside a rapid growth in Saronic's Navy business.
The company plans to produce U.S. Navy LCU 1700 landing craft at the Brownsville site after being selected for prototype agreements, alongside Conrad Shipyard and Master Boat Builders, for the next generation of Navy landing craft. The three initial contracts total approximately $280.5 million.
This groundbreaking also follows Saronic’s recent announcement of a Navy production award for its 180-foot Marauder autonomous surface vessel, which was part of the service's Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel Marketplace. The Marauder has already completed over 140 test scenarios with the Navy during an extensive evaluation at sea.
These developments are pushing Saronic beyond the smaller autonomous crafts that initially formed the basis of its business and into the realm of large vessel production and traditional naval shipbuilding.
Port Alpha is being designed to facilitate this growth.
Officials from Saronic and Texas estimate that the project could create as many as 10,000 direct jobs, which would include roles for welders, machinists, naval architects, software engineers, and robotics specialists. The potential long-term economic impact of the project in Texas is estimated at $264.5 billion, although specific details were not provided in Wednesday's announcements.
Wednesday's groundbreaking transforms what was announced just two months ago as a bold vision for a new shipyard into a concrete industrial project. It's increasingly linked to the Navy's efforts to boost both its traditional shipbuilding abilities and the development of its future autonomous fleet.