Mobile’s Alabama Shipyard Among Seven Winners of New SBA Critical Suppliers Prize
Alabama Shipyard on Pinto Island is the only Alabama business among seven winners of the SBA’s first Critical Suppliers Prize Competition, which awarded more than $18 million. The yard will use its share for fabrication upgrades.
MOBILE, Ala. — Alabama Shipyard, the Pinto Island ship repair yard at the mouth of the Mobile River, is one of seven small businesses nationwide chosen for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s first Critical Suppliers Prize Competition. The company will use its award for fabrication upgrades aimed at strengthening the nation’s supply chains.
The SBA announced more than $18 million in total awards on Sept. 24. Alabama Shipyard LLC is the only Alabama business among the winners. Alabama Shipyard’s individual award amount was not reported.
What the SBA Critical Suppliers Prize Competition is
The Critical Suppliers Prize Competition supports domestic manufacturing in industries including defense, aerospace, shipbuilding and advanced materials. According to the SBA, it focuses on suppliers that can expand production and help clear bottlenecks that slow the delivery of important components and materials.
The SBA is the federal agency that supports small businesses through loans, loan guarantees, contracting programs and counseling. Unlike a loan, a prize competition awards funds to selected entrants based on criteria the agency sets in advance.
Under this competition’s rules, applicants had to show they could increase production or improve production efficiency within six months of receiving an award. According to the SBA, the funding will help the selected businesses increase production, improve efficiency and take on more work.
Key facts
- Program: SBA Critical Suppliers Prize Competition (first round)
- Total awards: more than $18 million
- Announced: Sept. 24, 2026
- Number of winners: seven small businesses
- Alabama winner: Alabama Shipyard LLC, Mobile
- Alabama Shipyard’s planned use: fabrication upgrades
- Performance requirement: increase production or efficiency within six months of award
Loeffler: ‘Capital is a force multiplier’
SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the awards are meant to put money to work quickly.
“Capital is a force multiplier for small businesses, and the awards in the Critical Suppliers Prize Competition will unleash more productive capacity to strengthen America’s supply chains, drive job growth, and align the agency’s programs with real results,” Loeffler said.
She said the competition was built around specific goals for how winners would use the money.
“The competition was based on specific objectives and uses for the capital to grow and reshore manufacturing capabilities,” Loeffler said. “These awards will give proven industrialists the resources to scale faster, invest in new equipment, and deliver the materials, components, and technologies our country needs across our most important sectors, from defense to energy. By backing these businesses, the Trump SBA is helping rebuild the industrial strength that will power America’s economy and national security for decades to come.”
Who else won
Alabama Shipyard joins six other small manufacturers from across the country:
- Trenton Forging — Michigan
- JD Machine Corp. — Utah
- Queen City Forging — Ohio
- Jet Helseth Manufacturing — Florida
- ShaloTek — Georgia
- Synthio Chemicals — Colorado
Their projects include new forging and precision-machining equipment, automation and expanded production of specialty chemicals. The SBA said the investments will help companies bring manufacturing back to the United States and strengthen the domestic industries that support national security.
Alabama Shipyard stands out in the group as the only winner focused on ship repair and maintenance, reflecting the competition’s inclusion of shipbuilding among the industries it targets.
Inside Alabama Shipyard on Pinto Island
Alabama Shipyard provides maintenance, repair, overhaul and conversion services for commercial and government vessels. It also dismantles ships that have reached the end of their service lives.
The yard sits on Pinto Island at the mouth of the Mobile River, across the river from downtown Mobile. According to the SBA, the facility includes:
- 356 acres of waterfront property
- Three full-service piers
- Five deep-water berths
- A floating drydock more than 787 feet long and 164 feet wide, which the SBA describes as one of the largest in the United States
A floating drydock is a large, submersible structure that can be partially sunk so a vessel can float into it, then pumped dry to raise the ship out of the water. That lets crews work on a ship’s hull, propellers and other below-waterline parts. A drydock of that size can accommodate large commercial and government ships that many yards cannot handle.
A site with more than a century of history
Alabama Shipyard began operating in 2019, but the facility has a much longer history. The site dates to 1916 and later built and maintained vessels for the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Mobile’s waterfront was a major shipbuilding center during the war, when shipyards along the river employed tens of thousands of workers and helped transform the city. The Pinto Island yard is part of that legacy, and its current work continues the area’s long tradition of servicing commercial and government vessels.
Why it matters for Mobile
Shipbuilding and ship repair remain important parts of the Mobile-area economy, alongside the Port of Mobile and the region’s other maritime businesses. Federal investment in a local yard’s fabrication capacity can help it take on more work, which the SBA says is one of the program’s goals.
The award also ties Mobile into a broader national effort to expand domestic production of materials and components considered critical to defense and other key industries. Because the competition required winners to show results within six months, the upgrades are meant to produce relatively quick gains in output or efficiency rather than long-range plans.
What we know and what we don’t know yet
What we know
- Alabama Shipyard LLC of Mobile is one of seven winners of the SBA’s first Critical Suppliers Prize Competition.
- The awards total more than $18 million and were announced Sept. 24.
- Alabama Shipyard will use its share for fabrication upgrades.
- Winners had to show they could boost production or efficiency within six months.
What we don’t know yet
- The exact dollar amount awarded to Alabama Shipyard.
- Which specific equipment or facilities the fabrication upgrades will include.
- Whether the upgrades will lead to new hiring at the Mobile yard.
What happens next
With the awards announced, the winning companies are expected to put the money toward the projects they proposed. Under the competition’s rules, that means demonstrating increased production or improved efficiency within six months of receiving their awards.
For Alabama Shipyard, the award will support upgrades at a Mobile waterfront operation whose roots stretch back more than a century.
