Austal USA is the American branch of operations for Australian shipbuilder Austal. The facility, based on Blakeley Island in Mobile, Alabama employed more than 3,100 workers in early 2012, and has since grown to a little over 4,000 employees and contractors as of 2016. Due to expanded shipbuilding contracts from the United States Navy, the company announced in March 2012 that it planned to invest an additional $160 million in upgrades to its facilities and to increase its workforce to roughly 4,000 employees in the next few years.