CASTINE (AP) – Maine Maritime Academy has been given a $2.5 million gift that it will use to enhance its engineering program.

The gift, announced Monday, comes from the American Bureau of Shipping, an international ship classification society based in Houston.

Maine Maritime President Leonard Tyler said it is the largest gift in the Castine school’s history.

Tyler said the gift will be used as seed money for a new applied engineering and research facility that will be named for the American Bureau of Shipping.