Cameron County’s vote on economic incentives for Saronic’s $3.2B shipyard is paused — for now

Cameron County leaders say they delayed voting on an economic incentive deal with Austin-based Saronic Technologies because they are still negotiating with the company. 

The Cameron County Commissioners Court was scheduled to hold a public hearing and vote on a 10-year tax abatement deal of up to 100% on a project spanning 4,000 acres at the Port of Brownsville on Tuesday, but that vote is  now scheduled for June 2. 

Saronic Technologies is scouting locations to build Port Alpha, a $3.2 billion shipyard to manufacture autonomous vessels for the U.S. Navy and commercial customers. 

The company says the project would create thousands of jobs in steel fabrication and welding, panel assembly, hull erection, machinery installation, and vessel launches with an average annual wage of about $75,500. 

Last year, the U.S. Navy awarded the company a $394 million contract to produce autonomous surface vessels — or drone boats that can maneuver across the ocean on missions without human intervention — by 2031. 

The company has already negotiated a lease option with the Port of Brownsville for its four phases of expansion, with a potential term of up to 50 years at the site. The shipyard would be located on the south side of the ship channel, roughly between NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG export terminal and SpaceX’s rocket-building and launch site at Starbase near Boca Chica Beach. 

Cameron County has not yet disclosed the value of the property tax abatement deal with Saronic. 

By comparison, the Point Isabel Independent School District unanimously approved a $228 million property tax relief deal for the company earlier this month. 

Read more: Point Isabel ISD approves $228M incentive deal for Port Alpha

Saronic Technologies did not respond to an interview request for this news story. 

The company told the school board that while they’ve raised money from investors, they don’t have an “unlimited budget” and that the incentives are key to making the deal happen. 

Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviñon Jr.  told the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal that the company asked for more time before a vote. 

“We’re still competing with other locations, so I can’t get into the details yet, but by rescheduling [the vote] we hope to continue to move forward on trying to work something out with them,” Treviño said. “We are moving fast, but we want to make sure that we do this right for everybody involved.”

Saronic is reportedly considering more than a dozen sites for the Port Alpha project across Texas, California, and Virginia. 

Treviño the delayed vote does not indicate he’s against an incentive deal with the company.

“And since they requested a little bit more time, we were certainly amenable to that. I wouldn’t take this delay as any negative development whatsoever. This is a win-win for Cameron County — for both them and the Valley,” he said. “It would be a whole new industry, plus it would get our foot in [in] regards to the national defense industry, which we think would be extremely positive for both the short- and long-term economic viability for Cameron County and the Valley as a whole.”