MMA’s new ship arrives in Maine waters
State of Maine given water salute upon entering Portland harbor
The State of Maine passes Bug Light in South Portland. Photo courtesy of MMA.
March 24, 2026
By Emily Baer
Eighty five years after its founding, Maine Maritime Academy is preparing to formally receive its new training ship, the State of Maine, from the U.S Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration during a formal ceremony in Portland on March 30.
Academy leaders, cadets, and state and federal officials—including U.S. Senator Susan Collins and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy—will gather at Ocean Gateway to celebrate the arrival of the new vessel. Collins, who secured more than $300 million in federal funding for the state-of-the-art National Security Multi-Mission Vessel, is expected to deliver the keynote address. The ceremony will culminate with MARAD Administrator Stephen Carmel formally transferring operational control of the ship to Maine Maritime Academy.
The State of Maine was welcomed into the Port of Portland with a water salute on March 21.
The vessel is the third of five ships commissioned by the United States Maritime Administration being built at Hanwha Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia by TOTE Services, a commercial company that manages ship construction, often under contracts with federal agencies.
The 525-foot-long State of Maine is the academy’s first purpose-built ship. It is equipped with a dedicated training bridge and navigation lab, two full-sized engine rooms, eight classrooms, laboratory space, an auditorium, and a helipad. The new ship can handle 600 cadets on board, compared to 245 on the academy’s previous training vessel.
In February, Collins announced that an additional $2.8 million in congressionally directed spending funds had been secured to purchase equipment for a simulation laboratory aboard the State of Maine training vessel.
The ship will not travel directly to Castine following the Portland ceremony, as MMA is still in the midst of a multi-year waterfront redevelopment project and is not yet ready to receive the vessel. The $100 million-plus effort includes construction of a new steel-piling pier designed to accommodate the ship, which is both longer and wider than its predecessor. Once complete, the new pier will provide more than double the academy’s previous dock space.
Michael Dickerson, MMA’s director of communications, said by email to The Rising Tide that the first phase of the pier project will be complete when the ship returns from its summer training cruise, at which time the vessel will finally be docked in its home port of Castine.
