Greek Shipowner Opens STEM Centre at US Maritime Academy

02 Nov 2026, 06:03 by Kosta Papadopoulos · Greek City Times

Greek shipowner Vangelis Marinakis has supported the creation of a state-of-the-art STEM centre at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in the United States, honouring his late father, Miltiadis Marinakis, and helping prepare future maritime professionals for the industry’s technological and environmental challenges.

The 4,000-square-metre facility, named Miltiadis Marinakis Hall, recently opened at the Academy in Cape Cod. Rear Admiral Francis McDonald, the Academy’s president, and Vangelis Marinakis, founder and chairman of Capital Maritime & Trading Corp., attended the inauguration. Marinakis funded the building through a donation.

The new centre houses laboratories for construction, electronics, control systems, biology, physics and chemistry. All Academy students will use the facilities, regardless of their specialisation.

During the opening ceremony, McDonald and Academy officials showed Marinakis around the building, where teaching and research activities had already begun.

The Academy is also developing new programmes in automated control, programming and robotics, while exploring the early stages of a nuclear energy specialisation.

McDonald described the centre as an important addition to the campus that the Academy could not otherwise have built. He thanked Marinakis for his generosity, saying the donation had given students something special that would benefit generations to come.

He also highlighted the Academy’s strong reputation and demand for its graduates. Twice a year, more than 150 organisations visit the campus, bringing over 500 recruitment representatives and advertising more than 1,000 jobs at sea and ashore. They compete for approximately 350 graduating students.

McDonald noted that female enrolment had doubled over the past decade, reaching around 80 students in each intake of 400. The Academy began admitting women in 1977. The first female engineer aboard its new training ship is also an Academy graduate.

Marinakis receives Distinguished Service Award

During the ceremony, McDonald presented Marinakis with the Academy’s Distinguished Service Award.

The formal programme also featured speeches by McDonald, Marinakis, Massachusetts state representative Steven Xiarhos and the Academy’s Provost, Commander Brigid Pavilonis.

McDonald said the building’s location made it particularly fitting for the Marinakis family. Its rooftop offers panoramic views of the Academy’s new training ship, Patriot State, as well as the campus football fields — two areas closely associated with the family’s history.

He also stressed the responsibility that came with naming the building after the Marinakis family, saying the Academy recognised the significance of the honour and the expectations it carried.

For Vangelis Marinakis, the inauguration held deep personal meaning. The centre commemorates his father while investing in the education of young people at a time when shipping requires broader scientific knowledge and advanced technical skills.

“Today is a very special day, not only for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, but also for me personally and for my family,” Marinakis said. He described the Academy as an institution that had shaped maritime excellence for almost 150 years and said the opening represented much more than the inauguration of a new STEM centre.

Honouring his father’s maritime legacy

Marinakis said the decision to support the project stemmed from his father’s lifelong connection with the sea.

His father, Miltiadis Marinakis, graduated from a similar maritime academy almost 75 years ago. A marine engineer, he began his career working on offshore oil platforms, tankers and dry-bulk vessels.

“He devoted his life to the sea,” Marinakis said, recalling his father’s belief in education and the potential of young people.

He described him as a man guided by hard work, integrity, resilience and deep respect for seafarers.

“For him, shipping was never simply an industry. It was a passion, a legacy and a way of life,” Marinakis said. His father often reminded him that while steel builds ships, the true strength of maritime power lies in the courage, knowledge and character of the people who serve aboard them.

Marinakis said three generations of his family had regarded the sea as their home and that their passion for shipping came with a responsibility to leave the world better than they had found it.

He quoted Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis, urging the students to embrace responsibility and take ownership of their actions.

“Always love responsibility and take it upon yourselves,” he told them.

Preparing maritime professionals for a changing industry

Marinakis also highlighted the importance of shipping to global economic development and national prosperity, saying that the industry moves the world.

He described Miltiadis Marinakis Hall as the Academy’s first building with the potential to achieve net-zero energy consumption. He said its design reflected the industry’s growing commitment to environmental responsibility, innovation and future generations.

“Shipping stands on the threshold of a new era, facing unprecedented challenges,” he said. “Twenty-first-century seafarers must be more than skilled maritime professionals. They must be scientists, engineers, innovators and visionary leaders.”

He pointed to conflicts in the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf, Russia and Ukraine, which are changing maritime routes and highlighting shipping’s vital role in global trade and the international economy.

He also identified energy efficiency and sustainability as major challenges, with emerging technologies expected to reduce the environmental footprint of ships while improving their performance.

Meeting these demands, he said, requires professionals with new knowledge and skills, alongside practical experience.

Marinakis also referred to renewed efforts in the United States to strengthen the commercial fleet and shipbuilding industry. He argued that investment in maritime higher education was essential to developing the skilled workforce needed to support those ambitions.

“Shipping, above all, is about its people. They are its most valuable asset,” he said, adding that the Academy’s educational work could help revitalise American shipping through US-flagged vessels built in the United States.

He also pointed to the White House maritime plan published in February 2026, which identifies education and training as one of its four main pillars. The plan highlights workforce and skills shortages in shipyards and maritime professions and includes measures to support the six state maritime academies, including Massachusetts.

A bridge between Greek maritime tradition and American education

Marinakis said his support for the Academy also reflected his belief in the importance of higher education in shipping.

He pointed out that although Greece ranks among the world’s leading maritime nations, studies at its corresponding maritime academies do not form part of the university education system.

He described the new building as a symbolic bridge between Greece’s centuries-old seafaring tradition and the academic excellence and technological innovation of the United States.

“Greece and the United States share an enduring bond based on freedom, democracy and a deep respect for the sea,” he said.

Addressing the students, Marinakis said the building existed for future maritime leaders and expressed his hope that generations of cadets would draw inspiration from it, pursue ambitious goals and expand the boundaries of what they could achieve.

He urged them to remain true to their word, describing a person’s word as the greatest contract in shipping.

For the students, the Greek name on the building has already become part of everyday campus life.

Cypriot cadet Nikos Pattichis, who addressed the ceremony on behalf of the student body, praised Marinakis’s vision and investment, saying they could help make the Academy the world’s leading maritime institution.

He also spoke about the emotional significance of seeing a Greek name on campus while studying far from home.

“Distance also makes us miss our homeland more,” he said. “It was a great surprise to see Mr Marinakis, and I am very happy that every day I will see a building with a Greek name here at the university.”

(Source: AMNA)

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