Training center preparing to break ground

PASCAGOULA — Groundbreaking should be announced in the next several months on a shipbuilding and metal trades academy on land near Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Pascagoula.

The State of Mississippi is providing $20 million for the project from Hurricane Katrina recovery funds.

The project was announced in 2009.

Mike Petters, president of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, tells The Mississippi Press that final details are being worked out.

Northrop would be the main tenant, but VT Halter Marine and Signal International would also use the facility. About nine acres have been set aside for the project.

Petters said the academy would be modeled on Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding’s apprentice school in Newport News, Va.