Governor Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday that Florida is sending $9 million to the City of Pensacola to help build two new boatbuilding facilities at the Port of Pensacola, a project state officials say is projected to create 2,000 jobs in shipbuilding and maritime manufacturing. The money comes from the state's Job Growth Grant Fund, according to a payment transcript attached to the governor's announcement showing the full $9,000,000 designated for the port.
“We have a strong economy because we have our priorities straight,” DeSantis said in a post on X, adding that the state has “delivered record tax relief while making strategic investments in workforce education, infrastructure, and economic development projects that bring industry and jobs to our state.” He said investments like the Port of Pensacola facilities “help ensure Florida remains an industry leader for many years,” pointing to the state's claim that it ranks first nationally in workforce development, ship- and boatbuilding, and maritime industrial base jobs, and that Florida-based ship and boat builders account for almost 20% of the nation's total.
The $9 million grant is a relatively small piece of a much larger financial picture. According to WUWF, the total capital investment for the port buildout is estimated at $275 million, built from a funding stack that includes $152 million in direct capital from the project's private partner, $76 million from Triumph Gulf Coast, $33 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, and $14 million in state economic development grants.
Who's Actually Building the Yard
That private partner is Denver-headquartered shipbuilder Birdon America Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Australia's Birdon Group, which was identified in January as the corporate partner behind the expansion, previously codenamed “Project Maeve,” and which is establishing its Southeastern headquarters at the city-owned port, per WorkBoat's reporting. The planned facility totals 400,000 square feet and will go up in two phases, starting with a panel line and module fabrication building for cutting and welding steel ship sections, followed by a larger assembly bay capable of handling surface vessels up to 400 feet long, WorkBoat reported.
Once running, the yard is meant to function as a Tier 2 maritime manufacturing hub, producing complex submarine and surface vessel modules for Tier 1 Gulf Coast shipbuilders including Huntington Ingalls Industries in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama, according to Florida Politics. DeSantis's own announcement described the two facilities as producing complex Navy ship modules for submarines and surface ships at the port.
Breaking Down the 2,000 Jobs
State officials have offered specifics on what those 2,000 positions will look like. Florida Politics reports the jobs consist of 1,437 advanced manufacturing positions averaging $68,000 a year and 563 engineering and administrative roles averaging $112,000 annually. Economic analysis prepared for Triumph Gulf Coast projected the average salary across all 2,000 jobs will exceed $80,000, roughly 140% of Escambia County's average wage, and generate $2.55 billion in regional household income over 10 years, per a report from Rick's Blog.
The $76 million contribution from Triumph Gulf Coast carries its own backstory. The nonprofit was created by the state legislature to disburse legal settlement funds from the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill for economic recovery in five Northwest Florida counties, WorkBoat notes.
Part of a Longer State Push at the Port
Wednesday's grant is not the state's first bet on the Port of Pensacola. In May 2023, DeSantis awarded $3.9 million from the Job Growth Grant Fund to repair warehouse damage from Hurricane Sally and construct a Maritime Center of Excellence, which officially opened in January as the permanent headquarters for the American Magic sailing team, according to Capital Soup. Since 2019, the Job Growth Grant Fund has distributed more than $305 million in discretionary state grants statewide, which officials credit with creating over 41,000 jobs and 32,000 workforce education slots, per a report from Broward College.
The project has also drawn federal attention. The U.S. Navy's Maritime Industrial Base Office formally endorsed the Pensacola project to expand domestic defense manufacturing capacity, and in May the Navy selected Birdon America as one of eight defense contractors to demonstrate prototype medium autonomous surface vessels, according to Studio 850 News.
Open questions remain around how the project moves from funding to reality, including how local institutions build a skilled workforce pipeline to fill 2,000 technical positions and how city officials will handle long-term port lease terms, noise impact studies, and downtown parking and traffic management as construction ramps up.
