October 20, 2025

GNO, Inc. Sunday Night Highlight – Who Needs a Bigger Boat?

Louisiana’s shipbuilding industry has always been defined by innovation. From Higgins Industries’ landing craft that helped win World War II, to Textron’s hovercraft in New Orleans East, the Bayou State has continuously charted the course of maritime history. This innovation continues today, yet perhaps at a bigger and faster rate than ever. Recent examples include:

Last week, in Houma, LA, Bollinger Shipyards announced a historic $6 billion contract to build four new Arctic icebreakers for the U.S. Coast Guard, part of a larger U.S.–Finland partnership to produce 11 Arctic Security Cutters. The project will support as many as 600 local jobs, and help NATO defend the Arctic. (As Honorary Consul for Finland, this partnership is especially exciting to me. Finland and Louisiana have a lot in common; for example, Finland has saunas, we have summer 😅)
And in July, Bollinger announced its latest project in the commercial spaceflight industry: converting a barge into a landing platform for Rocket Lab. Bollinger has also supported ventures like United Launch Alliance and Space Perspective, demonstrating how Louisiana shipyards are now building “ships for spaceships.”
Also last week, Metal Shark, an Iberia, LA-based boat builder and supplier for the U.S. Armed Forces, and HavocAI, the leading builder of maritime swarm autonomy, announced a partnership integrating Havoc’s autonomy platform across Metal Shark’s existing fleet of High Speed Maneuverable Unmanned Surface Vessels (HSMUSVs). “Over the years, Metal Shark has built and delivered over 400 autonomous or remote operated vessels,” says Chris Allard, Metal Shark CEO.
In April, Texas-based Saronic announced it will invest $250 million and create 500 jobs at a newly acquired shipyard in Franklin, LA, where it will manufacture autonomous vessels – essentially large “water drones” – for military and commercial clients. These vessels, which can operate without crews, allow mid-sized Louisiana yards to compete in one of the fastest-growing sectors of maritime technology. Saronic’s long-term vision is a larger, next-generation shipyard called Port Alpha, which will be built starting in 2026 with a multibillion-dollar investment to mass-produce autonomous ships on an even larger scale.