Transcription
Today on Forbes, a Gonzo plan to beat China with giant robot boats.
On a muggy August morning at a shipyard set among the sugarce fields of Franklin, Louisiana, a group of executives from Seronics Austin headquarters stood sweating in blazers. Alongside them were local politicians and shipyard workers in teal shirts and steeltoed boots. employees whose jobs had been saved from closure when the yard was bought by the well-funded builder of robotic speedboats.
As they watched, CEO Dino Mavukas dawned a fireproof coat and gloves, pulled on a welder's mask, and in a shower of sparks, carefully spot welded the company emblem onto the aluminum keel of the largest vessel the 3-year-old startup has attempted to build, the 150 ft long Marauder. Seronic designed the unmanned vessel to carry two 40 foot cargo containers up to 3500 miles at 30% less cost than a crude ship. It's perfect conceptually for shuttling commercial cargo to smaller ports in the US, varying supplies during wartime to US troops spread out across the Pacific or delivering a boatload of hurt from missile launchers.
The way the genial mafuka sees it, Marauder is a major step toward reclaiming maritime dominance for the United States. By removing crews and all the systems needed to support human life on board, he argues that Seronic can make ships simpler, faster, and cheaper to build, potentially jumpstarting America's withered ship building industry. He told Forbes, quote, "We don't just want to compete with the Chinese, we want to outbuild the Chinese."
The 44year-old former Navy Seal is facing long odds. Over the past two decades, China through low labor costs and heavy state investments has risen from an afterthought to become the world's dominant ship builder. It now produces 53% of the world's commercial ships, according to a recent estimate from the think tank CSIS. The US, which was the global ship building titan exiting World War II, produces a minuscule 0.1%. Last year alone, the China State Ship Building Corporation built more commercial vessels by tonnage than the entire US ship building industry has produced since the end of World War II. The Chinese Navy now has more vessels than the US, though American warships still pack double the number of missile launch cells.
With a potential Taiwan conflict looming, US intelligence says Chinese Premier Xi Jinping wants his military ready to invade by 2027. Washington is on high alert. Both parties are pushing to expand the Navy and the civilian cargo fleet needed to support a war in the Pacific. President Trump's so-called big beautiful bill passed in July includes $29 billion in funding for naval ship building and industrialbased revitalization. But the lack of domestic shipyard capacity and workers is a bottleneck that can't quickly be overcome.
Seronic is one of a growing number of defense startups pitching the Pentagon on a different approach. Mass-roducing small, cheap autonomous vessels that can operate in swarms, patrolling, resupplying, and engaging without risking human lives. If one gets lost, it's no big loss. Seronic is the best funded of the bunch. In February, it raised $600 million at a $4 billion valuation from backers including Eli Gil and Andre Harowitz, bringing its total funding to $850 million, more than triple that of its closest competitor, Sale Drone, according to Pitchbook.
In May, Seronic won another measure of validation that separates it from the pack. A Navy contract worth up to $392 million that appears to be for Corsair, a 24 ft boat that the company says costs less than $2 million. The award tops competitor Black Sea, which says it's turning out 30 16 ft robot boats a month under a contract worth up to $212 million. Sironic says it's starting to build Corsair at volume. It's turned out more than 100 at its Austin factory since building the first 14 months ago and is now producing them at a rate of 500 a year. And it's preparing to open a bigger factory in November that will quintuple that number.
But apart from Corsair, Seronica is pivoting to leave the crowded field of small boats to others as it aims for bigger sizes, longer ranges, increased mission capabilities, and bigger fees. For full coverage, check out Jeremy Bog's piece on Forbes.com. This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes. Thanks for tuning in.