ORONO – The University of Maine has received a $12.9 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to take the secure shipping containers developed in the campus laboratory to the marketplace.

The funding, announced Thursday by Sen. Susan Collins, will be spread over five years, starting with $3 million per year for the first two years.

“Nothing happens overnight, but the potential is so big that we’re very excited about where this could go,” Habib Dagher, director of the composites center, said Thursday.

The technology for the shipping containers was developed at UM’s Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center. A UM spin-off business, Maine Secure Composites, is the actual grant recipient and will work to commercialize and market the product and technology. Two out-of-state companies also have worked to develop technology used in the containers.

The shipping industry is very interested in the containers because they are lightweight and require less maintenance than traditional steel containers.

The Department of Homeland Security is interested in the containers because they are tamper-proof and would alleviate some port security concerns.

In addition, the potential to manufacture the containers in Maine would be a boost to the economy. “It’s a good opportunity for the university and for the state,” Dagher said.

The container security project now is in the third stage of development

“We’ve finished stages one and two successfully, and DHS [has] been very pleased with the work that we’ve done,” Dagher said. “The ultimate goal here is to develop a tamper-resistant shipping container that will prevent intruders from putting weapons or biological materials in shipping containers. Port security’s been a big deal here.”

Currently, only a fraction of the containers coming into the United States are subject to security scanning, Dagher said.

The UM-designed containers have sensors embedded in the walls, making them less susceptible to damage and tampering. The sensors can determine whether a container has been opened or compromised.

“This is another line of defense for the U.S.,” Dagher said. “That container is able to communicate anywhere in the world that it’s been tampered with.”

The containers also can be tracked using an embedded global positioning system.

The market for the containers is large – about 2.5 million containers are made worldwide each year at a cost of about $5 billion – and UM’s version has many advantages. It’s cost-efficient, lightweight, requires less maintenance than regular containers, offers a higher level of security, and is more durable than steel, Dagher said.

“It’s too early to tell where it will be made right now,” he said. “The goal is to make as much of it in Maine as possible.”

UM officials recognize that achieving full-scale manufacturing will take time, but they say that the potential is exciting.

“It’s a tremendously important and exciting project and offers great hope both in terms of opportunities for our students [and] offers the possibility of real investment return to the university since we own the intellectual property,” UM President Robert Kennedy said Thursday. “There’s also prospects for jobs and economic development for the state of Maine and most importantly, probably, is its importance to the Department of Homeland Security.”

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