Apprenticeship Programs News

Anacortes, Wash. shipbuilder Dakota Creek Industries announced it has opened the application process for its three-year paid apprenticeship program.Slated to begin on July 1, 2024, the formalized, structured program offers both on-the-job training (OJT) and related supplemental instruction through a combination practical, classroom and technical training."Essential skills taught during the program are tailored to meet or exceed industry standards, ensuring that apprentices are equipped with the expertise needed for a successful career in the marine industry…

In addition to wind, offshore wind demands human energy, individuals with knowledge and skills first to build and then operate and maintain the dozens of projects required to meet President Biden’s 2030 goal of 30 GW of offshore generation. In an October 2022 National Renewable Energy Laboratory report – “U.S. Offshore Wind Workforce Assessment” – the authors estimate that it will require, on average, between 15,000 and 58,000 employees annually, depending on domestic content scenarios, to build out a huge new wind machine.Mariners and mariner training are integral to offshore wind.

For companies active in all parts of the commercial maritime sector, finding and holding onto the workers they need to build, operate and service the industry’s wide range of vessels has been challenging. Simply put, the labor market is tight, and the problem is not getting any easier to solve.Mike Ellis, CEO at American Commercial Barge Line (ACBL), said a continued shortage of qualified personnel has been the most pressing issue for ACBL—and probably for the barging industry as a whole. “There's been so much demand on people.

North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) and the offshore wind developer Ørsted on Thursday announced a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) to construct the company’s U.S. offshore wind farms with an American union workforce. A statement on the agreement released Thursday reads: "A first-of-its-kind in the United States, the National Offshore Wind Agreement (NOWA) sets the bar for working conditions and equity, injects hundreds of millions of dollars in middle-class wages into the American economy…

Naval shipyards and industry partners see business growing, but finding enough trained and qualified workers is a challenge.General Dynamics Electric Boat will invest $1.7 billion to modernize and upgrade its Quonset, R.I. and Groton, Conn., facilities over the next ten years,” said Sean Davies , vice president for EB’s Quonset Point Operations. “Here at Quonset, we are investing $700 million that will increase our outfitting space by 13 acres, to support work on the Virginia and Columbia class of submarines.

Offshore wind developer Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind -  a U.S. joint venture between Shell and EDF, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with six unions operating in New Jersey as part of its bid submission, "committing to help develop and employ a productive, safe, well-trained local workforce."The company in December 2020 submitted its bid to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to supply the state with up to 2,300 MW of renewable wind energy. New Jersey seeks to award between 1…

American shipyards form an important economic engine, supporting nearly 400,000 jobs, $25.1 billion of labor income and $37.3 billion in gross domestic product (GDP), according to figures from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD).It’s a good thing, then, that U.S. shipyards were deemed essential businesses amid COVID-19 and have remained up and running throughout the pandemic. And it’s even better that most yards have been able to keep their workers employed despite less than stable market conditions…

Pascagoula, Miss. shipbuilder Halter Marine is creating jobs, and through its partnership with Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC), training the apprentices to fill them. The recently launched apprenticeship program is designed in three components: on-the-job training, classroom training and a progressive wage increase as participants reach set milestones. It offers training in the craft labor fields of welding, ship fitting, pipe fitting, pipe welding and electrical.

Vice President and General Manager of Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, Todd Thayse, has 34 years of experience in the maritime construction and repair industry, working with clients from all over the world as well as vendors and suppliers from the Great Lakes region and beyond. He has an extensive background in manufacturing production, material procurement, strategic planning, estimating, budgeting, labor negotiations, mergers and acquisitions as well as scheduling for both the commercial and governmental shipbuilding industries. He has overseen projects that have produced U.S.

The Apprentice School at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division celebrated its 100-year anniversary just last month. That's worthy of inclusion in this year's MN100 list, for more than one reason. Certainly, this fine school deserves to be mentioned among our very best 100 organizations for this year. That 100-year anniversary is bigger news than you might otherwise think. Accordingly, the company held a ceremony to mark the day – July 1, 1919 – when the school was established.

At the beginning of August, 63 young colleagues began their apprenticeship program at Hapag-Lloyd.Thirty of them are learning the typical seafaring jobs like ship mechanic, nautical officer or technical officer, while the other 33 are training to become shipping merchants or to work in office management and in the areas of transport and logistics. In addition, 11 dual-track students are beginning their studies with Hapag-Lloyd. They will take classes in a variety of subjects such as maritime management…

The Gulf States Shipbuilders Consortium (GSSC) announced that its fall meeting will be held October 18-19, at the Holiday Inn in Mobile’s historic district. Highlights of the meeting include a presentation by U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope). Byrne will deliver an Update from Washington at the official meeting kick-off at the recently opened GulfQuest Maritime Museum on Oct. 18. Byrne is a member of the prestigious House Rules Committee, Committee on Armed Services, and Committee on Education and the Workforce and is a member of the Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus.

Austal’s U.S. operation consists of more than 4,000 employees supporting the design, construction and sustainment of two U.S. Navy programs, the 127-meter, trimaran Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and the 103-meter, catamaran high-speed troop and equipment transport known as the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV). Austal has block-buy contracts in place for both programs totaling over $5 billion. In the past year, it has  delivered the Jackson (LCS 6), USNS Fall River (JHSV 4) and USNS Trenton (JHSV 5).

The Port of Seattle signed a 15-year lease with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) parent company of Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. The deal secures NCLH ships in Seattle for the full term of the lease and provides passenger volume guarantees estimated to bring $73 million dollars of revenue to the port. “We thank Norwegian Cruise Line for their commitment to Seattle and the Alaska cruise business,” said Commissioner John Creighton. “Cruise in Seattle means $440 million in annual economic impact for this region.

Austal USA combined two classes to graduate a total of 48 members of Austal’s cutting-edge four-year apprenticeship program yesterday at a formal ceremony held at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center. The graduates received their certificates of completion and designation as Department of Labor Class A Journeymen. The graduates consisted of 22 electrical journeymen, 9 pipe fitting journeymen, 4 fitout journeymen, and 13 fabrication journeymen. Of the 48 graduating apprentices, 18 have already been promoted to leadership positions. Austal is proud to say that the retention numbers for these apprenticeship classes were above regional averages for other apprenticeship programs in our area.

BAE Systems in the U.K said it will take on 710 apprentices in 2015, the highest intake in the company’s history. Next year's intake surpasses the record set in the previous year by 142 places and includes 45 places for apprentices who will eventually join companies in BAE Systems' supply chain or work in local engineering companies. The latter are funded under the government's Employer Ownership Program. The new recruits - two-thirds of whom will be employed in engineering-related roles - will work across 14 of BAE Systems’ aerospace, security and defense sites around the U.K.

Education for the next generation, employment for life. A new source of talent emerges for maritime stakeholders everywhere. Primary and secondary maritime schools are sprouting up across the country, inspiring K-12 students to learn about the exciting, yet sometimes obscured domestic waterfront. The goals of these maritime school programs are many and multifaceted, but at the core they motivate and engage students by bringing something new and exciting to the classroom while giving teachers an effective means for capturing the attention of their classes.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) informs that it has hosted a STEM Workforce Call-to-Collaboration conference to help increase the quality of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and the quantity of STEM-educated graduates for the future workforce. The two-day conference featured insight from HII President and CEO Mike Petters, Newport News Shipbuilding President Matt Mulherin and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who provided a keynote address via video. Sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association and the Aerospace Industries Association, the quarterly Call-to-Collaboration meetings aim to foster regional and statewide communication between education stakeholders and STEM employers such as HII.

MTU Onsite Energy Corp., a Rolls-Royce Power Systems company providing diesel and gas-based power system solutions, has announced the launch of a new youth apprentice program. The vocational training program is designed for high school juniors and seniors and will combine hands-on training in a manufacturing setting with classroom instruction. The program will begin this fall, in partnership with Mankato Area Public Schools, South Central College, Kato Cable, a full service cable assembly company, and EI Microcircuits, an electronics design and manufacturing company. The new youth apprenticeship program will launch with junior and senior-level students at Mankato East and West High Schools who have completed prerequisite coursework in welding…

When it comes to training, recruitment and retention issues – serious matters facing all maritime employers today – John Lotshaw probably knows better than most; what’s best for you. And, no matter what end of the maritime business model that you hail from, the challenge of hiring good people, training them and keeping them on payroll is an ongoing problem. Lotshaw joined Ingalls Shipbuilding in August of 2002 as the Director of Trades at the Avondale Site, responsible for workforce development and training and Operations support.

Seaspan CEO  addresses concerns raised by the Parliamentary Budget Officer about the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS). (Seaspan affiliate companies include Vancouver Drydock, Vancouver Shipyards and Victoria Shipyards). We are confident the NSPS program as described in 2010, as awarded in October 2011, and as signed in the umbrella agreement (UA) on February 14, 2012, is solidly on track. Since the signing of the UA, Seaspan has realized success in building the right management team, processes and infrastructure to set the yard up for long-term success. When Seaspan was awarded the Non-Combat program package, we hoped to have secured a design contract in about one year. We signed it last week, four months past the one-year anniversary of the contract award.

The Industrial Marine Training and Applied Research Centre (IMTARC) located in Esquimalt, BC, is officially opened. The Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic persification (WD), joined provincial and local representatives to officially open the Industrial Marine Training and Applied Research Centre (IMTARC). "We recognize that the shipbuilding and marine industry in British Columbia is set to grow significantly in the coming years and that this coordinated training centre will play an integral part in positioning BC for success," said Minister Yelich. Total economic activity in BC’s shipbuilding industry is expected to grow from $450 million to $1.4 billion, with the number of jobs increasing from 3,000 to 5,000.

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc., has promoted two senior department heads at Bollinger’s headquarters in Lockport, La. Dennis Fanguy has been appointed vice president, engineering and Robert McDonough has been named vice president and general manager of Bollinger’s new construction division at Lockport. Fanguy’s shipbuilding career was launched in 1980 at Halter Marine, where he served as chief electrical engineer while earning a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of New Orleans at night. He joined Bollinger in 1984 as an electrical project engineer and has risen through tasks including: chief project engineer; chief engineer; director of program management, and technical director.