Autonomous surface vessel Saronic Technologies acquires Gulf Craft to accelerate growth of autonomous shipbuilding line
Autonomous surface vessel (ASV) developer Saronic Technologies reports it has acquired Gulf Craft, a Louisiana-based shipbuilder.
The three-year-old Austin, Texas-based start-up said the acquisition of the Franklin, Louisiana, shipyard would “accelerate its growth into autonomous shipbuilding.”
The company plans to use the shipyard as the prototyping and production hub for its medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) fleet, starting with Marauder, Saronic’s 46-m ASV.
Gulf Craft has been a builder of monohull and multi-hull aluminium vessels for 60 years, including crewboats, crew transfer vessels, ferries, passenger vessels, pilot boats and unmanned surface vessels.
Saronic Technologies said it plans to invest US$250M in the shipyard to modernise its infrastructure, acquire new machinery, and update the facilities “while focusing on building a production system engineered for speed, scalability, and quality”.
“These upgrades will support a rapid capacity ramp-up, enabling Saronic to deliver up to 50 unmanned ships per year,” the company said.
Backed by venture capital investors, Saronic intends to invest over US$2.5Bnto develop Port Alpha, what it describes as a next generation shipyard to designed to produce hundreds of unmanned vessels for US Navy and military applications annually and create thousands of new jobs.
