A Congressional appropriations bill that includes $300 million for construction of a new training vessel for Maine Maritime Academy, in Castine, is now headed to the president’s desk to be signed into law.
The Senate voted last week to pass the final legislation, following months of negotiation by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairman of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, according to a news release.
Earlier this year, the administration requested $205 million to construct a smaller training vessel for the academy. It would have been inferior to a ship funded in fiscal year 2019 for Massachusetts Maritime Academy despite the fact that Maine Maritime Academy has nearly the same number of Coast Guard-licensed graduates and the same need for at-sea training, Collins said at the time. In addition, changing the design would have required the U.S. Maritime Administration to start from scratch in designing a new ship.
The $300 million was included in the 2020 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development funding bill. In addition, the bill provides $5 million in direct support and tuition assistance for Maine Maritime Academy, as well as fuel payments for their current training ship, the TS State of Maine.
According to the Maritime Administration, state maritime academy vessels are aging and nearing the end of their designed services lives
Replacements are called National Security Multi-Mission Vessels. They’re designed to provide a state-of-the-art training platform. The ship is outfitted with numerous training spaces to include eight classrooms, a full training bridge, lab spaces and an auditorium. The vessel has space to train up to 600 cadets at sea, maximizing the capability of the ship and its mission to provide our cadets with a world-class education.
In addition to being an educational platform, the vessel is a functional national asset. Designed to fulfill numerous roles, it can support the federal response to national disasters such as Hurricanes Maria and Harvey.
The vessels will have hospital facilities, a helicopter landing pad and the ability to berth up to 1,000 people in times of humanitarian need. The ships also have roll-on/roll- off ramp and container storage, allowing it to provide aid to damaged ports.
Investment in the vessels is expected to foster the growth of the nation’s maritime transportation workforce and workers in the shipbuilding and repair industry, while addressing a critical shortage of U.S. merchant mariners needed to crew commercial and government-owned ships during a military crisis.
