Hundreds of pilings are coming for Maine Maritime’s bigger pier

Construction of the new pier that will be required for Maine Maritime Academy’s training ship has begun on Castine’s waterfront.

Woolwich-based construction firm Reed & Reed has started work as it prepares to drive pilings into the bottom of the harbor, according to an MMA official. Approximately 320 new pilings will be needed to support the planned pier, which will extend roughly 260 feet into the water — about twice as far as the existing pier.

“They are putting in the lattice structure into which they will drive the pilings, probably starting in October,” Michael Dickerson, the academy’s director of communications, said.

The new $320 million training ship , which is under construction at Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, is expected to be completed next spring. The federal Maritime Administration will own the ship, but MMA will maintain and use the vessel for training students.

The new ship will be the first specifically built for MMA to train cadets in maritime operations, but it also has been designed for responding to disasters, with the ability to provide medical services, berthing for first responders and recovery workers, and container storage and critical support equipment to areas impacted by floods or other calamities.

The current training ship , known as the State of Maine, was built in 1990 as an oceanographic research vessel for the Navy.

The feds are requiring MMA to expand the pier because the new ship will be larger than the State of Maine. Among the requirements are that it be taller, to prepare for the expected impacts of sea level rise, academy officials have said. Work on the new pier started late last month.

Dickerson said the project is not expected to be completed until early 2027, but construction of the pier won’t have to be complete before the new ship can dock there.