Saronic Breaks Ground on $3B Shipyard 'Port Alpha'

Saronic has broken ground on Port Alpha, a new U.S. shipyard at the Port of Brownsville, Texas, representing a private capital investment of more than $3 billion and a potentially significant addition to U.S. shipbuilding capacity.

Situated on 835 acres with an option to expand to nearly 4,400 acres, Port Alpha is being designed to build autonomous, autonomy-capable and manned vessels. Saronic said the project could eventually support up to 10,000 direct jobs.

At opening, the yard is planned to provide 150,000 gross tons of annual shipbuilding capacity, which Saronic said would more than double current U.S. commercial shipbuilding capacity. Long-term plans envision capacity exceeding 2 million gross tons annually.

“American shipbuilding needs to be rebuilt for what comes next,” said Dino Mavrookas, Saronic co-founder and CEO. “Port Alpha is where that starts.”

The initial development will include 1.2 million sq. ft. of enclosed production space within a 2.5-million-sq.-ft. production area, spread across eight to 10 production buildings. More than 2,500 ft. of deepwater quay will support the facility.

Two to four build positions are planned for final ship erection, backed by annual steel processing capacity of 75,000 tonnes. JE Dunn | Alberici Joint Venture has been selected to construct