{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senator-collins-speaks-at-global-secure-shipping-facility-grand-opening-in-old-town", "Senator Collins Speaks at Global Secure Shipping Facility Grand Opening in Old Town", "2024-10-23", "2024", "2024-10", "Republican", "House", "GA", "Mike Collins", "C001129", "www.collins.senate.gov", "collins", "https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "Click HERE, HERE, and HERE for individual photos\n\nOld Town, ME \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Susan Collins delivered remarks at the grand opening of Global Secure Shipping\u2019s (GSS) second manufacturing facility in Old Town. With the opening of today\u2019s facility, GSS now has 32,500 square feet of total manufacturing space to produce its state-of-the-art secure cargo containers using patented technology first developed at the University of Maine (UMaine).\n\nToday\u2019s event also celebrated the company\u2019s selection for a $4.1 million Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contract to produce and test the next generation of secure cargo containers.\n\nJoining Senator Collins at the grand opening were U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale, UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, GSS CEO Robert Lindyberg, Ph.D., and Executive Director of GSS and UMaine engineering professor Dr. Habib Dagher.\n\n\u201cThis is a great day for our State, for our nation, and for the security of cargo shipping around the world,\u201d said Senator Collins during her remarks. \u201cThe project we celebrate today is about seaport security. But it also is about transitioning from research and development to manufacturing to create new industries, with new opportunities and good jobs. GSS is in the vanguard of that transition.\u201d\n\n\u201cMost of all, this is about the innovative spirit of Maine and our maritime heritage, with our University, GSS, and a skilled local workforce joining together to achieve something truly remarkable. Congratulations on this great accomplishment.\u201d Senator Collins concluded.\n\nGSS was founded in 2018 to commercialize the hybrid composite secure shipping container technology developed at UMaine. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee and now Vice Chair, Senator Collins helped secure funding for UMaine to research this technology, as well as funding for DHS that led to GSS\u2019s $4.1 million contract.\n\nSenator Collins attended the groundbreaking for this facility in September 2023.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:57:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senator-collins-speaks-at-global-secure-shipping-facility-grand-opening-in-old-town"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3603968545794487, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}