Louisiana-based Gulf Craft has been acquired by Saronic to aid its growth in autonomous shipbuilding.
The Gulf Craft shipyard will serve as the prototyping and production hub for Saronic’s medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) fleet — starting with Marauder, Saronic’s 150ft autonomous surface vessel (ASV).
The acquisition will provide Saronic with the infrastructure and workforce needed to develop and scale production of its fleet.
“Today marks a significant milestone in Saronic’s expansion into autonomous shipbuilding and lays the foundation for our vision of our larger, next-generation shipyard, Port Alpha,” said Saronic CEO Dino Mavrookas.
“This acquisition gives us the immediate capacity to meet urgent customer needs for larger autonomous vessels and the flexibility to scale to address emerging commercial and defense applications of these advanced systems.”
Acquisition
The acquisition is set to create high-quality jobs and a step towards Saronic helping to revitalise Louisiana’s industrial base.
Marauder is purpose-built to support a wide range of missions for the US, its allies, and commercial customers.
The autonomous vessel has a payload capacity of 40 metric tons and is designed to travel up to 3,500 nautical miles or loiter for 30+ days, depending on mission requirements.
The acquisition adds nearly 100 acres to Saronic’s footprint, supporting both immediate MUSV development and production as well as capacity for significant expansion.
Saronic plans to invest more than $250 million directly into the shipyard, to encompass large facility upgrades including modernising infrastructure, acquiring new machinery, and updating the facilities while focusing on building a production system engineered for speed, scalability, and quality.
The upgrades will enable Saronic to deliver up to 50 unmanned ships per year.
Saronic has retained Gulf Craft’s workforce and expects to create more than 500 new jobs over the next three to four years.
“The shipyard’s location, deep expertise, and turnkey facilities are ideally suited to allow Saronic to expeditiously develop, test, and produce its first MUSV model,” added Dino.
