the Port of Brownsville<\/a>\u00a0that will produce autonomous, AI-powered drone ships for the U.S. military. Port Alpha is \u201can important component\u201d to Saronic\u2019s plans to build \u201cadvanced, highly capable autonomous ships at scale,\u201d company officials said in February. The company\u2019s lineup includes four vessels ranging from six feet long to about 180 feet long with various cargo and payload capacities.<\/p>\nArticle continues below this ad<\/p>\n
How big is the proposed Port Alpha project?<\/p>\n
According to Cameron County records, Saronic is seeking incentives for a proposed $3.2 billion Port Alpha shipyard at the Port of Brownsville.<\/p>\n
![\"Shown]()
<\/p>\n
Shown is a “Spyglass” class autonomous boat, left, and a “Cutlass” class autonomous boat manufactured by Austin-based defense technology firm, Saronic Technologies.<\/p>\n
Courtesy Saronic Technologies<\/p>\n
How many jobs is Saronic promising \u2014 and who would get them?<\/p>\n
The shipyard is expected to generate \u201c10,000 permanent jobs within the first 10 years of operations,\u201d according to county records. As part of the proposed incentive agreement,\u00a0Saronic would be required to pay employees a minimum wage of $25 per hour, or $52,000 per year. And at least 35% of Saronic\u2019s Brownsville workforce would be required to come from the local community. However, the actual number of local workers may fall far short of that goal.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cThe County and Company agree that there is a shortage of qualified labor in the County,\u201d the proposed tax abatement agreement reads.<\/p>\n
What tax breaks has Saronic already received?<\/p>\n
While residents balked at the idea of Cameron County giving\u00a0Saronic a tax break, another local government entity quietly approved one just a few weeks after the initial public outcry. On March 10, the Point Isabel Independent School District Board of Trustees approved a $228 million economic incentive under Texas\u2019 Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation Act.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cThis agreement represents a win-win for our students and our community,\u201d Board President Heather Scott said after the decision, adding that\u00a0Saronic\u2019s shipyard will \u201ctransform the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A]()
<\/p>\n
A prototype Saronic Spyglass ASV completes a full mission profile in its first open water exercise with the US Navy.<\/p>\n
Hand-out\/Saronic<\/p>\n
What could Cameron County approve next?<\/p>\n
The proposal before Cameron County is similarly lucrative and could save\u00a0Saronic millions in property taxes over the course of a decade. Cameron County is considering abating as much as 95% of Saronic\u2019s tax bill from 2029 through 2038, records show. Further, the proposed agreement only applies to Phase 1, or the first 836 acres, of the project build. It does not include or prohibit future tax abatements on future phases of development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shown are two “Spyglass” class autonomous boats manufactured by Austin-based defense technology firm, Saronic Technologies. Courtesy Saronic Technologies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,821,2319,2320,820],"class_list":["post-316448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-mysabusiness","tag-mysacoast","tag-mysasotx","tag-mysastaff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}