Vice President JD Vance and Governor Greg Abbott join Saronic in Brownsville, Texas, to break ground on Port Alpha, the next milestone in the company’s plan to rebuild American shipbuilding capacity at speed and scale

BROWNSVILLE, Texas –Wednesday, September 30, 2026 – Saronic today announced the groundbreaking of Port Alpha, a next-generation American shipyard built to restore the nation’s maritime industrial capacity. Situated on 835 acres at the Port of Brownsville with the option to expand to nearly 4,400 acres, Port Alpha represents a private capital investment of more than $3 billion. The shipyard, which will be capable of building both autonomous and manned ships, is expected to generate up to 10,000 direct jobs and create an estimated $264.5 billion in economic impact for the State of Texas, making it one of the largest economic development projects in modern Texas history.

Saronic breaks ground on its next-generation shipyard, Port Alpha, in Brownsville, TX. Pictured from left to right: Sergio Tito Lopez, Brownsville Navigation District Chairman; Doug Lambert, Co-Founder & COO; Rob Lehman, Co-Founder & CCO; Texas Governor Greg Abbott; U.S. Vice President JD Vance; Dino Mavrookas, Co-Founder & CEO; Vib Altekar, Co-Founder & CTO; and John Morgan, SVP of Operations.

Restoring American shipbuilding is a national priority. Port Alpha is coming online to provide the capacity, capability, and speed the moment demands, echoing the Administration’s Executive Order “Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance,” the Maritime Action Plan, and the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding plans to support a hybrid fleet, each calling for the same thing: a stronger, U.S.-built commercial and defense fleet ready to take on the challenges of today and tomorrow.

That convergence is what is bringing federal, state, and local leaders to the Brownsville waterfront for the historic groundbreaking event. Saronic was honored to host Vice President JD Vance and Governor Greg Abbott along with federal, state, and local officials, critical partners, members of the Brownsville community, and Saronic leadership at the site, where Vance and Abbott delivered remarks on what Port Alpha means for national security, economic prosperity, and freedom of the seas.

“American shipbuilding needs to be rebuilt for what comes next,” said Dino Mavrookas, Co-Founder and CEO of Saronic, speaking at the ceremony. “Port Alpha is where that starts. We’re honored to have Vice President Vance, Governor Abbott, members of Congress, as well as state and local leaders here in Brownsville as we break ground today. 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. This is one of the defining engineering challenges of our time, and we are building the team, partnerships, and capital base to meet it.”

“Texas is the new leader in American shipbuilding,” said Governor Abbott. “Port Alpha will create 10,000 jobs and put hundreds of millions of dollars in annual paychecks into the hands of Texans. These ships will be built in Brownsville by American workers for the defense of the United States.”

The innovation at Port Alpha is the shipyard itself. Saronic is building a clean-sheet, software-defined facility designed from the ground up to deliver autonomous, autonomy-capable, and manned ships at speed and scale. At opening, Port Alpha will introduce an initial 150,000 gross tons of annual shipbuilding capacity — more than doubling current U.S. commercial shipbuilding capacity — with the potential to scale to over 2 million gross tons. Port Alpha will initially be capable of producing vessels up to 850 feet, while future site expansion could support production of vessels over 1,200 feet, ultimately making it the largest shipyard in America.

That capacity expands what the nation can build for defense and commercial customers alike, with the goal of supplementing existing U.S. shipbuilders and supporting U.S. allies and partners who face the same backlog and capacity squeeze.

Building for the Future Starts Today

Saronic is taking a phased approach to building Port Alpha, beginning operations with initial production capacity that allows the company to employ its manufacturing approach and establish workforce pipelines. At initial operations, Port Alpha will encompass 1.2 million square feet of enclosed production space within a 2.5-million-square-foot production activity area, spread across 8 to 10 dedicated production buildings and served by more than 2,500 feet of deepwater quay. Two to four build positions will handle final ship erection, supported by 75,000 tonnes — 150 million pounds — of annual steel processing capacity. Saronic has selected JE Dunn | Alberici Joint Venture to construct this initial phase, bringing decades of experience on large commercial projects and industrial builds.

This first phase will focus on building autonomous, autonomy-capable, and manned ships, including Landing Craft Utility (LCU) vessels for the U.S. Navy. Saronic was recently awarded a contract to build these core Navy logistics vessels, taking on an immediate and urgent need for the Fleet today while continuing to ramp to meet the needs of an autonomous maritime future.

For the nation, this phase begins to immediately close the capacity gap, allowing Saronic to build its workforce and supply chain and validate its manufacturing approach.

A Long-Term Commitment

Today’s groundbreaking marks the beginning of a long-term commitment to Brownsville and the American shipbuilding workforce. Over the next decade, Saronic expects Port Alpha to create up to 10,000 high-quality direct jobs, from skilled trades such as welding and machining to advanced roles in robotics, software engineering, and naval architecture. Saronic is working with the State of Texas, Cameron County, and regional educational institutions on engineering pipelines, technical training, and apprenticeship pathways designed to put those careers within reach for the community and state of Texas, and to help address a national shortfall of roughly 250,000 skilled shipbuilding workers over the next decade.

Saronic is building Port Alpha with discipline and a commitment to revitalize a critical pillar of U.S. industry. It is also one part of a broader national reindustrialization effort, and one that will require government and industry to play their part together. Strategic investment, strong partnerships, and clear regulatory pathways can accelerate production, expand industrial capacity, and help restore America’s position as the world’s leading maritime power.

“This is bigger than one shipyard,” Mavrookas said. “What stands on this ground in five years — the supplier base, the workforce, the ships themselves — is what will determine whether America leads at sea for the next century. We’re ready to be a critical part of that narrative.”