Texas Gov. Abbott, Saronic CEO Dino Mavrookas Talks Floods, Shipyard Plans

Summary

Podcast Summary: Bloomberg Talks

Episode: Texas Gov. Abbott, Saronic CEO Dino Mavrookas Talks Floods, Shipyard Plans
Date: July 16, 2026
Host: Bloomberg (Judy Fine, Nathan Hager)
Guests: Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Saronic CEO Dino Mavrookas

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Overview

This episode dives deep into Texas’ pivotal moment as a driving force in America's next wave of industrial development, spotlighting a $3.2 billion investment by Saronic in a next-generation shipyard at the Port of Brownsville. The conversation also provides an operational update on severe flooding in Central and South Texas, the state’s robust workforce pipeline, and how innovative defense manufacturing is finding a new home in the Rio Grande Valley.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Texas Flooding Update

(01:24 – 03:41)

• Governor Greg Abbott offers a detailed assessment of ongoing catastrophic flooding in Central and South Texas:
  • “We’re actually getting more rain over the past 20 hours and over the next 24 hours than we got last year.” (01:35)
  • 1,300+ state personnel, National Guard, Texas DPS, boats, and helicopters are deployed for the emergency.
  • Public safety guidance: Turn Around, Don’t Drown
    • “If you do not need to be out, don’t go out... There’s an old saying, ‘turn around, don’t drown,’ and that applies here.” (02:47 – 03:00)
  • Emphasizes individual responsibility to avoid rising rivers and unsafe driving.

2. Saronic’s $3.2 Billion Shipyard Investment in Brownsville

(03:41 – 07:43)

• Dino Mavrookas underscores Saronic’s commitment to Texas:
  • “We’re very proud to call Texas home and invest in the community here.” (04:10)
  • Why Texas?
    • Land availability and deepwater access are prerequisites, but “what really tipped the scales was the workforce, the people down in Brownsville...” (04:28)
    • Partnership with state, county, city, and the Port of Brownsville was pivotal.
• Economic & Industry Impact
  • Saronic aims to “create 10,000 jobs and $160 billion of economic impact in the region” within the next decade. (05:35)
  • Brownsville presents a collaborative rather than purely competitive climate, with synergies among tech and aerospace firms (e.g., Space X).
  • The investment is expected to produce a major industrial and defense ecosystem in South Texas.

3. Texas Workforce Development and Economic Growth

(06:08 – 07:43)

• Governor Abbott:
  • “Texas ranks number one in the United States for having the best workforce… and for adding more new jobs than any other state.” (06:20)
  • Describes “mass education programs,” including Texas State Technical College, two-year colleges, and universities, all focused on delivering job-ready skills.
  • Notes the “pipeline of well-trained workforce” as a major factor attracting companies like Saronic, Space X, and the growing number of Fortune 500 HQs.
  • "When you put it all together, they’re going to be injecting $750 million in paychecks for our fellow Texans. That's going to make a massive difference in our state." (09:28)

4. The Transformation of the Rio Grande Valley

(07:43 – 09:44)

• The region is rapidly shedding its agricultural roots for a diversified, high-tech, and industrial economy:
  • “Cameron county area... is going to be one of the fastest growing regions in the entire state.” (08:44)
  • Investment in transportation and university expansions to support economic and population growth.
  • The area’s evolution is tied not just to Saronic, but to ongoing investments by Space X and others.

5. Defense Technology and U.S. Shipbuilding Capacity

(09:44 – 11:22)

• Recent Milestone:
  • U.S. Central Command’s first combat use of autonomous surface vessels, powered by Saronic tech.
• Lessons and Vision:
  • “It’s delivering the capabilities to our war fighters at speed and scale. That’s what Saronic has been based around since the day we founded the company.” (10:03)
  • Saronic’s new facility (“Port Alpha”) will address the U.S. “shipbuilding crisis”—currently, China outbuilds the U.S. 230:1.
  • Phase One will make it the largest shipyard in the country—allowing the U.S. to “1.5x the commercial shipbuilding capacity... and that’s just phase one.”
  • Ambition to “20x the current capacity in this country.” (10:59)

6. Future Expansion & Strategic National Impact

(11:22 – 12:07)

• Plans to expand from 835 acres to “over 4,000 acres.”
• Vision: “We are building a brand new shipyard... to be the most advanced, to be the most efficient. But most importantly, add net new capacity, brand new shipbuilding capabilities to this country in a way that we haven’t seen since World War II.” (11:31)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Gov. Abbott on Flood Safety:
  “‘Turn around, don’t drown... Each individual in the state of Texas has a full capability of protecting and saving their own life right now by staying away from the rising rivers and not driving into it.’” (03:00)

• Mavrookas on Texas Workforce:
  “What really tipped the scales was the workforce, the people down in Brownsville that we’re going to build this company and this project around.” (04:28)

• Mavrookas on Economic Impact:
  “We’re going to create 10,000 jobs and we’re going to create $160 billion of economic impact in the region.” (05:35)

• Governor Abbott on Workforce Development:
  “We focus our education in Texas on real life job skills that will ensure that when a student graduates... they're going to be ready to go straight into the workforce.” (06:36)

• Mavrookas on Shipbuilding Crisis:
  “China outbuilds US 230 to 1. Our naval fleet is actually shrinking. We have 0.1% of global shipbuilding capacity.” (10:28)

• Mavrookas on Shipyard Ambition:
  “We are building a brand new shipyard... in a way that we haven’t seen since World War II.” (11:31)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Flooding situation update: 01:24 – 03:41
• Saronic investment and why Texas won: 03:41 – 05:14
• Brownsville impact and job creation: 05:14 – 06:08
• Texas workforce pipeline: 06:08 – 07:43
• Rio Grande Valley's transformation: 07:43 – 09:44
• US shipbuilding and defense tech: 09:44 – 11:22
• Phase two and expansion vision: 11:22 – 12:07

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Tone & Language

The episode maintains an optimistic, pragmatic tone, balancing urgent information on natural disasters with the ambitious, pro-business outlook of both Texas leadership and Saronic. Speaker language displays pride, urgency, and commitment to innovation and community.

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This summary captures the substance and notable moments of the episode, providing context for listeners interested in Texas’ economic transformation, public safety, and the future of American shipbuilding and defense technology.

Transcript

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[Governor Greg Abbott]

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[Judy Fine]

Texas is quickly becoming the epicenter of America's next industrial build out from AI data centers and semiconductor fabs to defense technology. Now autonomous shipbuilder Sironic is making its own major bet on the state. The company's announced a $3.2 billion investment building a next gen shipyard at the Port of Brownsville manufacturing medium to large class autonomous surface vess reversals. Joining us now for an exclusive conversation are Saronic CEO Dino Mavrukas and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, alongside our Bloomberg Texas bureau chief, Judy Fine. Governor Abbott, good morning to you from San Francisco. If we could, I'd like to start with a sort of operational update, please, on the flooding situation in your state. I know it's something that you want to communicate on.

[Governor Greg Abbott]

Sure. Listen well, thank you for offering that up. We've been following all day yesterday, all last night and today the massive flooding going on Central and South Texas. It's the same area where we had the massive Fourth of July flooding last year. The difference this year is we're actually getting more rain over the past 20 hours and over the next 24 hours than we got last year. Overnight there was one life lost. We are continuing to surge resources. We've made almost 80 rescues already. I will be leaving here after this interview to go focus on on our current response in regions ranging from the Kerrville area all the way down to Uvalde to Del Rio to Laredo, where we expect continued flooding. I just want to make sure that all Texans know that we have more than 1,300 Texas personnel, the National Guard, Texas Department of Public Safety. We have all resources, boats, helicopters available to make sure we will be doing everything possible to save human life.

[Nathan Hager]

Governor Abbott, I just want to follow on that briefly as you remember just a horrible time last year when there was that flooding in the same area. Your advice to anybody in the area that sees this water that is concerned, what should they do and where should they go?

[Governor Greg Abbott]

So great, great question. And you all are one of the best communicators to the general public that we can have out there with the news media sharing this, what I'm about to tell you, and that is there are rapidly rising rivers that will continue to rise through the remainder of today and tomorrow. If you do not need to be out, don't go out. We have one leading reason why people may lose their life in rising waters like this is because people drive into waterways and get swept away. There's an old saying, turn around, don't drown, and that applies here. Second, because rivers are rising so rapidly, if you are near a river, try to get away from that river so you can protect your own life. Each individual in the state of Texas has a full capability of protecting and saving their own life right now by staying away from the rising rivers and not driving into it.

[Judy Fine]

Governor Abbott, thank you very much for that. As a reminder, Bloomberg Tech audience Saronic, a defense tech startup focused on autonomous Maritime drones, investing $3.2 billion in the state of Texas, a facility at the Port of Brownsville. Dino Maverick is Sironic CEO. Welcome back to Bloomberg Tech. The question we get most often is often the simple one, why Texas? What did Texas do to win your business?

[Dino Mavrukas]

And before I even talk about that, I just want to say our thoughts and prayers go out to everybody involved in the flooding. Serrano keeps that very, very front of mind. And we're very proud to call Texas home and invest in the community here. So, Governor, if there's anything that we can do to support, please let us know.

[Governor Greg Abbott]

Sure.

[Dino Mavrukas]

Thank you. Texas. Texas is a great state. I mean, the leadership and the partnership with the governor. Look, we're building a next generation shipyard. We're going to go and build the most advanced, most efficient, highest throughput shipyard, not only in the country, but in the world. So when you're, look, when you're doing that, you're looking for land availability, you're looking for deepwater access. Those things are kind of binary. You either have them or you don't. What really tipped the scales was the workforce, the people down in Brownsville that we're going to build this company and this project around. And then the partnership with the state and local government. It's the governor's leadership and support, the partnership with the state, Cameron county and the city and the Port of Brownsville that helped bring this generational project to life.

[Judy Fine]

Dino Brownsville, close proximity to SpaceX. So that was interesting. The workforce was, was, was the tipping point. How competitive is it in your industry right now in hiring the best people across lots of different disciplines?

[Dino Mavrukas]

I think what you're seeing, it's actually more collaborative than it's competitive.

[Governor Greg Abbott]

You're.

[Dino Mavrukas]

You're building up industry, you're building up infrastructure, you're investing in the community. When you look at what we're going to do in Brownsville, we're going to invest billions of dollars not just into infrastructure, but into the local region. We're going to create 10,000 jobs and we're going to create $160 billion of economic impact in the region. And that's just over the next 10 years. Right? With companies like Space X and others doing that, it creates an entire ecosystem, not only in that part of the state, but in the entire state.

[Nathan Hager]

Governor Abbott, we just heard Dino talk about the workforce again. That's 10,000 jobs. So I'd like to hear about the plans on how you plan to develop that workforce to make sure there are enough people available.

[Governor Greg Abbott]

I'll tell you this. Texas ranks number one in the United States for having the best workforce. Texas ranks number one for adding more new jobs than any other state. And there's reasons for that. And that is because we work more than any other state to make sure we have the best trained and qualified workforce. We have these mass education programs across the state. One is through the Texas State Technical College, two is through our two year colleges. But three is through our universities. And we focus our education in Texas on real life job skills that will ensure that when a student graduates or completes the course study there, they're going to be ready to go straight into the workforce. And we talked to Dena, we talked to Sironic about what our capabilities are to make sure that we would be able to develop the workforce they need. This is exactly what Elon Musk found with regard to Space X is what other companies are coming into the state of Texas are realizing. I talk to these CEOs all the time. They're coming to the state of Texas and they tell me the leading reason why they're coming to the state is because we do have that pipeline of well trained workforce and we will be able to deliver it for Saronic just like we have been for all these other companies. Where Texas now is home to more Fortune 500 company headquarters than any other state, because in part of the workforce and supply that we have.

[Nathan Hager]

Governor Abbott, when you look down the road five years, what is the Rio Grande Valley look like with this addition?

[Governor Greg Abbott]

So it has changed dramatically. You're familiar with it. Maybe many Americans watching this show may not be familiar with it, but listen, the Rio Grande Valley has historically been an agricultural region and things like that. But when you look at some changes taking place. You know, you mentioned one, obviously with Starbase down there in Cameron county, which is near the Brownsville area, with Saronic, which is going to be near the Brownsville area, the is a massive explosion of economic activity. And because of that kind of going back to the education component, what our universities are doing, our universities are establishing campuses and expanding campuses in those regions to make sure that we will be educating students not just to be able to go to work for Saronic, but also to fill the other education needs in the entire area. But going back now, the Cameron county area, where this project is going to be located, is going to be one of the fastest growing regions in the entire state. So we're building out transportation facilities, other facilities to make sure this is going to be a thriving community. But it also shows how Texas is the most diversified economy in the United States, not, not just with regard to different business sectors, but geographically in the state, obviously with the booming Dallas and Austin and Houston areas. But now we have the booming Rio Grande area. And so our state is absolutely booming. And we cannot be more proud to have Saronic down there. And the jobs are providing. So get this real quick number. Over the. Over the course of the coming years, Veronica is going to be adding more than, or up to at least 10,000 new jobs at $75,000 per job, at least. When you put it all together, they're going to be injecting $750 million in paychecks for our fellow Texans. That's going to make a massive difference in our state.

[Judy Fine]

Dino, we're going to put up. You know, let me just jump in because there's another big moment this week for you, centcom, sharing this video. The first combat use of autonomous surface vessels by the US Military. Your technology. What was the biggest lesson from that operation?

[Dino Mavrukas]

I mean, it's delivering the capabilities to our war fighters at speed and scale. That's what Saronic has been based around since the day we founded the company. We looked around and we said, what is the capability that our Navy is missing? Right? And how do we build that fast and get that to our war fighters to deliver real combat power? And that's actually, actually what we're doing in Brownsville as well. There's a shipbuilding crisis in this country right now. China outbuilds US230 to 1. Our naval fleet is actually shrinking. We have 0.1% of global shipbuilding capacity. Port Alpha is going to turn all of that around on day one. Our initial. Our initial phase of the project. This will be the largest shipyard in the country. We will have 150,000 gross tons of shipbuilding capacity, which means we will 1.5x the commercial shipbuilding capacity in the United States. And that's just phase one. We're going to take that all the way up to 2 million gross tons of capacity 20xing the current capacity in this country. And that's what we need. And in Brownsville, what you're going to see is the development with Space X already being there. It's just going to become a critical corridor not just for business and commerce, but for national security.

[Judy Fine]

Dino, we just have about 60 seconds left in the program. You said this is phase one. Would you just give us a look into the future in phase two?

[Dino Mavrukas]

Absolutely. Absolutely. So basing the initial phase of the project on 835 acres, we talked about massive land availability. We have the ability to expand up to and over 4,000 acres. We're going to continue to invest, continue to build out infrastructure. And keep in mind, we are building a brand new shipyard. This is built from the ground up to be the most advanced, to be the most efficient. But most importantly, add net new capacity, brand new shipbuilding capabilities to this country in a way that we haven't seen since World War II.

[Judy Fine]

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Saronic CEO Dina Mavrukus, of course, our Texas bureau chief, Judy Fine. Really appreciate all of your time this morning. Again, Sironic, a $3.2 billion commitment to South Texas.

[Nathan Hager]

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