The company held a groundbreaking ceremony at the Galveston Gulf Copper site on June 1 with state officials such as Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz in attendance.
U.S. shipbuilder Davie Defense, which is part of international conglomerate Inocea Group, announced a year ago that it would acquire Gulf Copper & Manufacturing Corp. and its Gulf Coast assets to build icebreakers to be deployed by the U.S. government in the Arctic. Its modernization projects in Galveston and Port Arthur consist of up to $1 billion of investment by the company and $21.8 million in funding from the Texas Enterprise Fund to support the investment.
The projects are expected to create about 2,400 new jobs and will be completed in 2028, coinciding with the delivery of the first of five icebreakers Davie Defense will supply to the government.
