U.S. maritime defense company Saronic has marked the start of construction on Port Alpha, a new shipyard in Brownsville, Texas, designed to build both autonomous and crewed vessels. Vice President JD Vance and Texas Governor Greg Abbott attended the groundbreaking ceremony.
A large-scale shipyard built from the ground up
Saronic unveiled plans for Port Alpha in July. The shipyard will initially cover roughly 800 acres, with the possibility of expanding to as much as 4,000 acres.
The company estimates the project could create about 10,000 direct jobs. It plans to recruit workers in welding and machining, as well as specialists in robotics, software engineering and naval architecture.
Port Alpha is designed to produce autonomous and crewed vessels at scale. Saronic co-founder and CEO Dino Mavrookas said modular design and production capacity would shape the facility’s layout.
Navy and Marine Corps vessels among the first planned products
The shipyard is expected to build Landing Craft Utility (LCU) vessels, which transport personnel, weapons and cargo. Earlier this month, the U.S. Navy selected three companies to build the vessels under a deal worth roughly $280 million. Deliveries are expected to begin in late 2028.
Mavrookas said the United States faces a shortfall in shipbuilding capacity and described Port Alpha as part of the effort to address it.
Autonomous vessel production also set to expand
Saronic already builds autonomous surface vessels at its shipyard in Franklin, Louisiana. Its products include Corsair, which U.S. forces have used in recent operations in the Middle East, and Marauder, a medium unmanned surface vessel.
The Navy said it would buy 10 Marauders through its medium unmanned surface vessel marketplace program. Mavrookas said the company would have the capacity to build 20 Marauders annually beginning January 1, 2027, and had received a production contract for the Navy program.
Saronic has invested $300 million in infrastructure at the Franklin shipyard to support Marauder production.
