Austin-based defense technology company Saronic, known for building autonomous watercraft, announced plans to invest more than $3.2 billion in a new shipyard at the Port of Brownsville that is expected to create 10,000 jobs.
Gov. Greg Abbott joined Saronic CEO Dino Mavrookas Thursday at the company’s Austin headquarters to announce the project, known as Port Alpha.
The shipyard’s initial phase will occupy more than 800 acres, with the potential to expand to more than 4,000 acres. Saronic plans to break ground this year and begin producing ships in 2028.
“The initial phase of Port Alpha will more than double America’s shipbuilding capacity today and will make it the largest shipyard in the country,” said Mavrookas.
Port Alpha will be designed for advanced manufacturing, software-based production, and autonomous vessels.
Mavrookas framed the project as a response to the decline of American shipbuilding and the increasing maritime capabilities of China.
“Today, China is now outbuilding the United States in shipbuilding capacity 230 to one,” he said.
“A nation that cannot build ships cannot project power, cannot protect its supply chains, and cannot defend its interests,” Mavrookas added. “We are at that moment right now. Port Alpha is our answer.”
Saronic designs and manufactures autonomous vessels for the U.S. military, including the Corsair, Mirage, and Marauder.
The company’s technology has recently been used in both rescue and combat operations during the conflict with Iran.
Three Saronic-built Corsair unmanned vessels struck a submarine and ship maintenance facility at Iran’s Bandar Abbas Naval Base on July 12, according to U.S. Central Command. The mission marked the first time American forces employed sea drones in combat operations.
A Corsair had also been used in June to rescue two U.S. soldiers stranded near the Strait of Hormuz after their Apache helicopter went down during a patrol operation.
“As the world has seen in the last few weeks, our Corsairs are operational, combat-proven, and saving our service members’ lives,” Mavrookas said.
“As an American, I’m proud of what Saronic does,” said Abbott. “I’m glad they’re on our side as opposed to the other side. As governor, I’m proud that Saronic calls Texas home.”
Saronic selected Brownsville after conducting a yearlong nationwide search that included more than two dozen potential locations.
“We visited every state that has water access, pretty much, and looked at over two dozen different sites,” said Mavrookas. “We narrowed that down to a few that we were really serious about, and Texas and Brownsville specifically emerged as a very, very clear winner.”
He said the company evaluated locations based on the availability of large amounts of land, deep-water access, workforce quality, and cooperation from state and local officials.
“Those first two are pretty binary. You have them or you don’t,” said Mavrookas. “The second two are really what tipped the scale for us.”
Mavrookas said the company plans to partner with universities and technical colleges in South Texas to establish a workforce pipeline for the new facility.
Port Alpha is expected to create 10,000 direct jobs over the next decade, including positions for skilled tradespeople, robotics engineers, and naval architects.
Mavrookas said the company intends to reduce shipbuilding costs through improvements in manufacturing rather than by lowering employee compensation.
“A lot of folks in shipbuilding talk about unit economics and how much it costs to build ships in the United States,” he said. “Well, we’re going to bend that cost curve, but it’s by investing in processes and infrastructure and product, not by lowering wages.”
“These are good-paying jobs where everybody has the same benefits as an engineer coming out of Silicon Valley, and we all have equity in our company,” he added.
Abbott said the jobs would pay an average of approximately $75,000 annually, generating around $750 million in employee paychecks each year after the project is fully built.
“That’s game-changing for the population and the employee network of the state of Texas,” said Abbott.
Mavrookas said the cooperation of Texas and Brownsville officials would allow Saronic to move more quickly than it could have elsewhere.
“This is something that we need to do, and we need to do now,” he said. “We’re going to break ground this year. We’re going to be operational in 18 months, and I can’t tell you another state where that’s even possible.”
The first phase is expected to begin producing ships in 2028, with the facility continuing to expand over the following decade.
“We want this to be the fastest groundbreaking to ship off the production line in the history of the country,” said Mavrookas.
The project received an $80 million Texas Enterprise Fund grant and a $78,000 Veteran Created Job Bonus. It also qualifies for the state’s Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation program.
