Jacksonville, Fla. – TOTE Services, LLC, (“TOTE Services”) an affiliate of TOTE, LLC (“TOTE”) and an industry leader in ship management, marine operations and vessel services, has exercised its option with Philly Shipyard, Inc., (“Philly Shipyard”) the sole operating subsidiary of Philly Shipyard ASA, to construct two additional ships to replace the aging training vessels at Maine Maritime Academy and Texas A&M Maritime Academy. TOTE Services had previously commissioned Philly Shipyard to construct the first two National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMV) for SUNY Maritime Academy and Massachusetts Maritime Academy on April 8, 2020.

“TOTE Services looks forward to fulfilling our commitment to building and delivering these world-class training ships for the Maine Maritime Academy and Texas A&M Maritime Academy,” said TOTE Services President Jeff Dixon. “Having Philly Shipyard build the NSMVs sequentially will help provide stability for the labor force, enhance quality, provide significant cost savings for the government and promote the on-time delivery of these vessels.”

This award will further the Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) vision to recapitalize our nation’s maritime academies’ training fleet, which provide qualified officers to the domestic maritime industry. These training vessels will address a critical shortage of qualified officers needed to crew commercial and government-owned sealift ships during crises and will replace the current training ships at the state maritime academies in New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Texas and California.

Philly Shipyard is advancing design and construction of the first two NSMVs in accordance with plan. The cutting of steel for the first NSMV on December 15, 2020 marked the first construction milestone for this national project. TOTE Services retains an option for a fifth NSMV for the California State University Maritime Academy, if authorized and appropriated by Congress.

MARAD selected TOTE Services to be the Vessel Construction Manager (VCM) for the NSMV program in May 2019 to ensure the utilization of best practices in commercial ship construction. These ships will be owned and operated by MARAD.

The new vessels will maximize the capabilities to educate future mariners by providing first-of-its kind training facilities, including dual engine rooms, a fully functioning training bridge and the latest in maritime technologies with space to train up to 600 cadets at sea.

In addition to being a state-of-the-art training and educational platform, the NSMV is a highly-functional national asset designed to fulfill numerous roles. Each ship will feature modern hospital facilities, a helicopter pad and the ability to accommodate up to 1,000 people in times of humanitarian need. Adding to the NSMV’s capability, it will provide needed roll-on/roll-off ramp and container storage capacity for use during disaster relief or delivery of preferenced cargoes.

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About TOTE Services

TOTE Services, LLC (“TOTE Services”) is a leading U.S.-based ship management company that skillfully and expertly provides crewing and technical services to meet the needs of commercial, privately owned and U.S. Government vessels. Since 2015, TOTE Services has overseen construction and management of the world’s first LNG powered container ships, activated U.S. training ships to support disaster relief and managed many MARAD vessels. TOTE Services, along with TOTE Maritime Alaska, LLC and TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, LLC, comprise the TOTE group of companies. The TOTE group is part of the Saltchuk family of companies. www.toteservices.com

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