CASTINE — It appears that Maine Maritime Academy’s ship has come in.
The maritime school is “95 percent certain” to receive a nearly new training ship from the U.S. Maritime Administration, MMA President Len Tyler said Friday.
Instead of getting a 26-year-old former Navy ship whose conversion is hopelessly behind schedule, MMA is nearly certain to get the Tanner, a 5-year-old Navy surveying ship.
“It will be the best training ship Maine Maritime Academy has ever had,” Tyler said. His remarks were part of the president’s annual “state of the academy” address to the school’s board of trustees and board of visitors.
Tyler told board members he got word Thursday that the Maritime Administration, which provides training ships for the nation’s seven maritime academies, would put its efforts and dollars into the Tanner rather than continuing work on the older Harkness, which is months and millions of dollars away from being finished.
The Harkness was supposed to be delivered to MMA earlier this year to replace the aged State of Maine, which has already been stripped and is awaiting removal by the Maritime Administration.
After looking over the Harkness, officials decided it would take another $8 million to complete its conversion to a training vessel. That money would be better spent converting the newer ship, the administration determined.
That ship, the Tanner, which was constructed in 1990, was mothballed by the Navy after only two years of service because of engine problems and changing naval priorities. The 550-foot ship, which is docked in Newport News, Va., needs new engines, and berths must be added to its living space. Otherwise, it is perfect for MMA, Tyler said.
“I’m much happier than I was a few days ago,” the president said of the training ship saga.
On the downside, the Tanner is not likely to be in Castine in time for MMA’s annual spring training cruise. If that is the case, MMA will have to explore other options such as borrowing a training ship from Massachussetts Maritime Academy, which holds its training cruise in the winter. Another option Tyler outlined was to farm out MMA students to the training missions of other maritime academies around the nation.
Despite the delays and inconveniences, the result is likely to be favorable to the academy. And the ship may wind up giving the academy the best training ship among its counterparts elsewhere in the country.
That could prove to be a financial boon to the school, Tyler said. He said he hopes the new ship will draw additional students. A substantial increase in enrollment would help ease financial pressures at the academy, which recently eliminated 34 positions in a cost-cutting move, the president said.
The Tanner could also be used by MMA for semester-at-sea programs for students from other colleges such as Bowdoin and Colby, thereby bringing in additional money.
In a related matter, Tyler told the boards that he was “cautiously optimistic” that funding for the maintenance of training ships which was axed by the U.S. House of Representatives will be returned to the federal budget.
The House Appropriations Committee struck from the budget nearly $7 million that was set aside for maintenance of training vessels at the nation’s maritime training academies. Officials from MMA, which relies on an average of $1 million in federal funds annually to maintain its training vessel, have been lobbying key members of the Senate to put the maintenance funds back into the federal budget.
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