Workboat Academy News

Foss Maritime announced today a partnership to establish the curriculum for a new marine engineering apprenticeship program, and to sponsor several applicants each year. Seattle Central College, Seattle Maritime Academy, the Maritime Institute of Technology & Graduate Studies-Pacific Maritime Institute and the Workboat Academy have received a $5 million American Apprenticeship Innovation Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to help build a new apprenticeship program. Through the grant, more 150 engineers will be trained over the next five years, both in Seattle and Baltimore. The engineering program will mirror Workboat Academy's deck apprenticeship, now in its 10th year.

Vocational training options continue to expand since the STCW 1995 rules put a crimp in the hawsepipe. The Pacific Maritime Institute’s (PMI) Workboat Academy has graduated its third class of mates. The State University New York (SUNY) Maritime College has opened a new two-year engineers program. Finally, Kirby’s training school continues to provide company employees with an in-house route to the wheelhouse. “We made the decision in 1995 that we weren’t going to be able to rely on other entities to provide training for our people,” said Patrick Kelly of Kirby Corporation.

Gregg Trunnell, Director of the Pacific Maritime Institute and the , announced the graduation of its first class from the Workboat Mate Program. The MITAGS-PMI Workboat Mate Program takes two years to complete, with 25 weeks of shore-based instruction and 52 weeks of onboard training. Upon graduation the trainee receives a Mate 500-1600 Gross Tons license, with Towing Endorsement (if serving on tugs), STCW-95 Officer in Charge of a Navigational Watch, and an Able-Bodied Seaman Limited endorsement. "The quality of our trainees has been impressive and, because there are many more applicants than places on board, the companies get to pick and choose  the best," Trunnell said.