Transcript: John Richardson's comments at Hodgdon's launch of the MK. V.1

Today's launch of the mark five-point-one represents a great success for the state that stemmed from the collaborative efforts of many people:

Fifth generation Hodgdon Boat Builders teamed up with the talented people at the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center at the University of Maine and together they created a state-of-the-art vessel for the military. This means good things for Maine's boat building industry since the technology engineered at the university for the mark five can be used to create a lighter and stronger commercial boat as well.

This bodes well for the future of research and development projects in the composite industry, too, and I am excited about the opportunities ahead. The partnership of boat building, which is Maine's oldest industry, and our cutting-edge composites industry is definitely a strong one.

I am very proud of DECD's involvement with this project. Our team helped Hodgdon with the Pine Tree Zone Certification, MTI's support and a two hundred thousand dollar community development block grant, all of which helped today's launch succeed.