Saronic Breaks Ground on Port Alpha Shipyard in Brownsville, Texas

Saronic Technologies held the groundbreaking ceremony for Port Alpha, its new shipyard in Brownsville, Texas, in an event attended by U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The project involves a private investment of more than $3 billion and aims to restore the country's maritime industrial capacity, with the potential to create up to 10,000 direct jobs.

The shipyard's initial site spans 835 acres within the Port of Brownsville, with an option to expand to nearly 4,400 acres. Upon opening, Port Alpha will have an initial capacity of 150,000 gross tons per year, a figure the company says would more than double the current commercial shipbuilding capacity of the United States, with the potential to scale up to 2 million gross tons. Initially, it will be able to build vessels up to 850 feet in length overall, with future expansion allowing for ships exceeding 1,200 feet. Operations are expected to begin in 2028.

According to estimates from Saronic and Texas authorities, the project could generate an economic impact of $264.5 billion for the state, although the details behind that projection were not specified in the announcement. The first construction phase, led by the joint venture JE Dunn | Alberici, will include 1.2 million square feet of covered production space within a 2.5-million-square-foot area, spread across eight to ten buildings, more than 2,500 feet of deep-water pier, and between two and four final ship erection positions, with a steel processing capacity of 75,000 tons per year.

The first production phase at Port Alpha will focus on building LCU 1700 landing craft for the U.S. Navy. Saronic was selected this month alongside Conrad Shipyard and Master Boat Builders for prototype construction agreements for this new generation of landing craft, with a combined initial obligation of approximately $280.5 million for the three companies.

Port Alpha's progress coincides with the growth of Saronic's naval business with the Navy. The day before the groundbreaking, the company received a production contract for its 180-foot autonomous surface vessel Marauder, under the Navy's Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) Marketplace program, after passing more than 140 test scenarios during eight days of continuous at-sea evaluation. Under that same program, Saronic, together with Huntington Ingalls Industries and Galliano Marine Services, received a contract to build 10 MUSV hulls each, at an average cost of about $40 million per unit.