US shipbuilder Saronic has broken ground on Port Alpha, a more than $3bn shipyard in Brownsville, Texas, designed to scale to more than 2m gross tons of annual capacity, according to a company statement.
The yard will initially occupy 835 acres at the Port of Brownsville, with an option to expand to nearly 4,400 acres. It will build autonomous, autonomy-capable and manned vessels for commercial and defence customers.
Port Alpha is planned to open with 150,000 gross tons of annual shipbuilding capacity, which Saronic says would more than double current US commercial shipbuilding capacity. The company plans to scale the yard to more than 2m gross tons. Initial facilities will be capable of producing vessels of up to 850 feet, while future expansion could accommodate ships of more than 1,200 feet.
The first phase will comprise 1.2m square feet of enclosed production space within a 2.5m-square-foot production activity area, with eight to 10 production buildings and more than 2,500 feet of deepwater quay. Two to four positions will be used for final ship erection, backed by annual steel-processing capacity of 75,000 tonnes, equivalent to 150m pounds.
Saronic has selected the JE Dunn | Alberici Joint Venture to construct the initial phase.
The first phase will include Landing Craft Utility vessels for the US Navy under a recently awarded contract, alongside autonomous, autonomy-capable and other manned ships.
“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,” co-founder and chief executive Dino Mavrookas said.
Saronic expects Port Alpha to create up to 10,000 direct jobs over the next decade and estimates the project will generate $264.5bn in economic impact for Texas. The company puts the expected US shortfall of skilled shipbuilding workers at roughly 250,000 over the same period.
Saronic develops maritime autonomy technology and vessels. JE Dunn Construction and Alberici are US construction contractors with experience in large commercial and industrial projects.