American Mariner Training Directory

Training generations aboard Golden Bear

Golden Bear returned to San Francisco Bay looking well-traveled and hard-worked after completing nearly 30 summer cruises in its three decades of service for Cal Maritime Academy. Departing first- and third-year cadets carried their seabags outside the gates of the recently closed Mare Island Dry Docks. Cadets typically complete two summer training cruises aboard Golden Bear, as well as one…

When distraction becomes normalized: Cellphone use, BRM and the loss of situational awareness

When a Houston pilot was on a personal phone call shortly before a collision that caused a towing vessel to capsize and sink, killing one of the five crewmembers aboard, members of the pilot’s bridge team could not only hear him but knew the call was nonoperational. Yet the pilot was violating no rule prohibiting such calls, either from Houston…

Vancouver’s new maritime lab asks: What more can we make of simulation?

The day before he spoke with Professional Mariner, Dr. Jeffrey Smith watched an Aframax tanker make its way through the Port of Vancouver. Three tugs escorted Java Sea, with a fourth standing by. The operation was part of a trial involving deeper-draft tanker transits through one of the port’s narrow waterways — the kind of complex ship movement that helps…

USCG TRAINING DIRECTORY – BY STATE

ALABAMA The Captain School Orange Beach, AL (239) 549-0271 [email protected] https://www.captainschool.com ALASKA Alaska Marine Safety Education Association Sitka, AK (907) 747-3287 https://www.amsea.org Alaska Vocational Technical Center (AVTEC) Seward, AK (907)224-6196 https://avtec.edu/maritime/courses Alaska Waters Consulting, LLC Anchorage, AK (907) 677-2606 http://www.alaskawatersconsulting.net University of Alaska Southeast - Ketchikan Ketchikan, AK (907) 225-6177 [email protected] https://uas.alaska.edu/ketchikan/maritime-training-center/ CALIFORNIA █▌▌ Maritime Institute (Alameda) █▌▌ Alameda, CA…

USCG TRAINING DIRECTORY – BY COURSE

Able Seafarer - Deck █▌▌ Maritime Institute of Technology █▌▌ & Graduate Studies (MITAGS) MD, WA Adams Marine Seminars Maritime Training Center FL Chapman School of Seamanship FL Great Lakes Maritime Academy /Continuing Ed. MI Sea School (Jacksonville) FL Seafarers Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship MD Able Seafarer - Deck (Online) Northeast Maritime Institute Able Seafarer - Engine █▌▌ Maritime…

A headset for augmented reality navigation

The International Maritime Bureau in London, which monitors criminal acts against vessels worldwide, reported an increase in piracy acts for the first three months of 2025 compared to the same period of the previous two years, the majority of which were directed against ships in navigation. In 2021, a U.S. Navy document indicated augmented reality (AR) as “a necessity in…

Training better- educated entry-level mariners at community technical colleges

Nearly 20 years ago, maritime industry leaders approached community and technical colleges in the Greater Houston area with a request: They wanted to see a broader skill set in people coming into the workforce. “That saying, ‘a better-educated entry-level mariner,’ has stayed with us for almost two decades now that we’ve been in this maritime training space,” said John Stauffer,…

Delgado Community College’s Maritime, Fire and Industrial Training Center

Located in New Orleans, Delgado Community College’s Maritime and Industrial Training Center has also earned MarAd Center of Excellence (CoE) status. Equipped with expansive firefighting facilities, three simulators, classrooms and a full kitchen to teach crew how to cook, Delgado is responsible for training between 5,000 and 7,000 people each year from across the region and world with the help…

New president says Maine Maritime Academy still a “best-kept secret”

Perched above Penobscot Bay in Castine, Maine, cadets at Maine Maritime Academy don’t just watch ships dock — they take the helm. “There’s no substitute for doing it yourself,” said Craig Johnson, the school’s new president. “When our boats come into the harbor, there’s a cadet in charge, docking the vessel. There’s no other way to learn other than by…

Fatal fire aboard car carrier highlights training gaps among firefighters and increased concern over EVs

When a fire broke out aboard a docked roll-on/roll-off container vessel in 2023, a small blaze escalated to a deadly inferno that would claim the lives of two firefighters, bring sweeping training recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and highlight the dangers of fires aboard car-carrying vessels. Crewmembers aboard the 692-foot Italian-flagged ro-ro Grande Costa D’Avorio, which was…