COURTESY / MAINE MARITIME ACADEMY
Maine Maritime’s current ship, the TS State of Maine, is almost 30 years old.
Updated: September 20, 2019
$300M for new Maine Maritime training ship clears key Senate hurdle
COURTESY / HERBERT ENGINEERING CORP.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a funding bill that includes $300 million for the acquisition of a new training vessel for Maine Maritime Academy. The National Security Multi-Mission Vessel is a Maritime Administration ship designed as a training vessel for the U.S. maritime academies.
By Staff
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has advanced a funding bill that includes $300 million to acquire a new training vessel for Maine Maritime Academy.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, co-authored the bill, according to a news release.
“This new ship will be capable of meeting the demands of the rigorous instruction students receive to ensure they are fully prepared for their future careers at sea,” Collins said in the release.
Purpose-built ship
“Funding for this ship, the third in the National Security Multi-Mission Vessel program, replaces the aging fleet of training ships with purpose-built modern vessels, greatly enhancing our maritime training and education program,” Maine Maritime Academy President William Brennan said in the release.
“Our current ship, the TS State of Maine, is almost 30 years old and the oldest ship in the fleet is more than 55 years old.”
Collins strongly opposed a proposal earlier this year that requested $205 million for constructing an MMA training vessel. It would have been inferior to a ship funded recently for Massachusetts Maritime Academy, despite the fact that the Maine school has nearly the same number of Coast Guard-licensed graduates and the same need for at-sea training, according to the release.
According to MMA, the third National Security Multi-mission Vessel will be a new class, designed specifically for training purposes, with eight classrooms, a full training bridge, lab spaces and an auditorium.
The vessel will be designed to respond to national disasters, as the TS State of Maine did in response to Hurricane Katrina. The ship includes two separate engine rooms providing significant spaces for engine training. Plans call for the ship to berth up to 1,000 people in times of humanitarian need.
The ship will also have roll-on/roll-off capability and container storage, full hospital facilities and a helicopter landing pad.
According to the Maritime Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the training vessels at the nation’s six state maritime academy vessels are aging and nearing the end of their designed services lives.
In the 2018 federal budget, Maritime Administration funds were allocated for the construction of the first National Security Multi-Mission Vessel, to replace TS Empire State, primarily utilized by the State University of New York's Maritime College.
New training center
In June, MMA completed the purchase of a four-acre parcel at the former Verso paper mill in Bucksport from owners American Iron and Metal. The site will be the new Maine Maritime Academy Center for Professional Mariner Development, an annex facility that will provide specialized courses for professional mariners, academy-enrolled students, and workforce development.
With 26,000 commercial mariners transiting the East Coast coastal and inland waterways at any given time, Maine Maritime Academy expects there will be a customer base for the new center.
COURTESY / MAINE MARITIME ACADEMY
A rendering of the firefighting training facility to be built at the Maine Maritime Academy's planned Center for Professional Mariner Development, in Bucksport.
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