Commander Mark Matta, USCG (Ret.), to lead programs and Test & Trials for the Arctic Security Cutter
Veteran Coast Guard acquisition leader Captain Peter Morisseau (Ret.) named Arctic Security Cutter Program Manager
Team brings more than six decades of combined Coast Guard shipbuilding, operations, testing and logistics experience across every major cutter class
LOCKPORT, La. — (December 10, 2025) – Bollinger Shipyards (“Bollinger”) today announced the leadership team that will oversee the company’s execution of the U.S. Coast Guard’s new Arctic Security Cutter (ASC) program, naming Commander Mark Matta, USCG (Ret.), as Director of Programs and Captain Peter Morisseau, USCG (Ret.) as ASC Program Manager.
The appointments follow the recent selection of a Bollinger-led international team to design and construct six Arctic Security Cutters for the Coast Guard, leveraging a mature Multi-Purpose Icebreaker (MPI) design and parallel construction in Finland and the United States.
“The Arctic Security Cutter is one of the most consequential shipbuilding programs in Coast Guard history, and it’s also one of the most time-sensitive,” said Ben Bordelon, President and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards. “For more than a decade, our team has delivered the Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter – over 60 hulls, each one on time and on budget – and that’s the proven production muscle we’re now bringing to ASC. President Trump has been very clear. These ships are needed in the water, not on the drawing board. Mark and Pete will leverage the decades of expertise of our Bollinger family to create a stable platform from day one and deliver world-class vessels to the Coast Guard and help protect the sovereignty of our nation.”
“On the Fast Response Cutter program, we have proven you can take a clean design, lock in the configuration and reliably deliver a ship that Coast Guard crews trust from day one,” Matta said. “That same discipline is what we’re bringing to the Arctic Security Cutter. These ships have to work the first time, every time, in some of the harshest conditions on earth. Our focus is simple – leverage four decades of experience building and delivering nearly 200 vessels for the U.S. Coast Guard to hit the White House’s timeline while delivering a vessel of the highest quality to serve for decades to come.”
“Since originally working on the 87’ CPB program, I have seen Bollinger deliver a steady drumbeat of cutters that showed up on time and ready to sail,” Morisseau said. “That’s exactly the kind of performance senior leaders in Washington are counting on for the Arctic Security Cutter.”
About Commander Mark Matta, USCG (Ret.), Director of Programs
Commander Mark Matta, USCG (Ret.), brings more than 40 years of experience in shipbuilding, shipboard testing, operations, maintenance and logistics support of Coast Guard cutters. He has been with Bollinger for the past 12 years following 28 years of active-duty service and five years as a civil servant with the U.S. Coast Guard.
Matta began his Coast Guard career as a non-rate aboard a cutter and rose through the ranks to command them. Over the course of his service, he was stationed on seven different Coast Guard cutters across the WLB, WHEC, WMEC and patrol boat classes, serving in roles from junior enlisted to Commanding Officer. He has served at every Coast Guard shipbuilding Project Resident Office since 1993 – including WLB, WLM, NSC, CPB and FRC – with the exception of the Offshore Patrol Cutter.
At Bollinger, Matta has been a central figure in the company’s execution of major Coast Guard and Navy programs, most recently overseeing the Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter and the U.S. Navy’s Mine Countermeasures Unmanned Surface Vessel programs in Lockport, La.
About Peter Morisseau, ASC Program Manager
Morisseau joined Bollinger following a 25-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard, where he most recently served as Commanding Officer in Pascagoula, Mississippi, with executive oversight of roughly $8 billion in shipbuilding programs. He led budgeting, contracting, scheduling, technical performance, logistics and risk management for major recapitalization efforts, including the Polar Security Cutter and National Security Cutter programs, and directed end-to-end construction of a 418-foot NSC delivered on time and on budget. He also led a rapid acquisition of a $150 million commercial vessel for conversion into the Coast Guard’s newest Arctic icebreaker, CGC STORIS.
About the Arctic Security Cutter Program
The Arctic Security Cutter is a new class of medium polar icebreakers designed to support all 11 statutory missions of the U.S. Coast Guard in some of the world’s most challenging environments. The program will produce eleven state-of-the-art icebreakers, with early construction taking place in both Finland and the United States and a planned transition to full-rate production at American shipyards under the trilateral ICE Pact framework between the United States, Canada and Finland.
Based on the Seaspan–Aker Multi-Purpose Icebreaker design, the ASC is expected to be capable of breaking thick sea ice, sailing thousands of nautical miles without resupply and remaining on station for extended periods. This will allow the Coast Guard to project presence, enforce U.S. sovereignty, support scientific research and conduct search and rescue operations as commercial activity and strategic competition intensify in the Arctic.
About Bollinger Shipyards
Bollinger Shipyards is a leading U.S. designer and builder of high-performance military and commercial vessels, including patrol boats, research vessels, double-hull barges, offshore energy support vessels, tugs, lift boats and other specialized steel and aluminum craft. With more than 80 years of continuous operation, Bollinger today operates 13 facilities strategically located across Louisiana and Mississippi with direct access to the Gulf of America, the Mississippi River and the Intracoastal Waterway, and is the largest vessel repair company in the Gulf region. For more information, visit BollingerShipyards.com.