Austal holds groundbreaking ceremony for new final assembly bay

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – Work is officially underway for Austal’s latest project. A new final assembly facility.

Austal held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday morning and says this latest expansion includes a new 192,000-square-foot assembly bay. That assembly bay will be the home of the production of large steel modules for Navy and Coast Guard ships.

And with another facility, comes more local jobs.

“It’s going to be a major increase in capacity to build larger steel ships. We’ll have about 1100 jobs associated with this new building and we’re in the process of hiring these folks now,” Vice President of Business Development & External Affairs Larry Ryder said.

The company says that when this is completed, it will be a major increase in capacity to build larger steel ships.

Alabama Secretary of Commerce Ellen McNair was the primary speaker at the event.

And as work begins, today was also a sign that the city’s relationship with Austal is stronger than ever.

“We have great relationships with our delegations from the county commissioners, the city, all the way to our Senators and Representatives in D.C. which allows us to put projects like this together. To finance them, to permit them, to grow the workforce that we need to man them up,” Ryder said.

Austal also recently announced plans in February for a major expansion of its shipyard capabilities in the city of Mobile.

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