WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Navy has awarded Austal USA a $1.6 billion contract to build 10 high-speed military transport ships in Mobile, Ala., according to U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama.
Austal Ltd. is an Australia-based shipbuilder specializing in high-speed ferries and transport vessels. It opened a U.S. facility on the Mobile River in Alabama in 1999.
The company was competing with two other shipbuilders, and the victory would be a boon to Austal's operations on the river, which have about 1,000 employees.
The Republican senator announced the award in a statement. The Navy had not yet confirmed it Thursday.