The U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd) has launched a five-year plan to expand the nation’s maritime workforce through recruitment, training and retention. Industry groups are supportive but say federal action will speak louder than words.
The blueprint, known as the “Mariner Workforce Strategic Plan — FY 2023 to FY 2027,” outlines strategies to address persistent workforce challenges that worsened during the pandemic. The plan also builds on existing initiatives aimed at expanding the pool of American mariners supporting the U.S.-flag fleet.
Eric Peace, vice president of the Lake Carriers’ Association, a trade group representing U.S.-flagged Great Lakes vessels, said federal help is urgently needed to make the plan a reality. “You can write all of the stuff you want, but until we start taking action, nothing will improve,” he said. “We need federal government help because we can’t do it on our own.”
Relaxing some requirements for credentialing entry-level mariners and simplifying and accelerating the process is at the top of the list, Peace said. “We’ve got to find a faster way to get these kids credentialed because when they have to wait 90 days, they look elsewhere. The government has given the trucking industry quite a bit of leeway. But if you look at shipping, we’ve had very little relief.”
Advertising about the industry on social media where younger recruits are apt to pay attention would help as well, Peace said, as would bringing “a younger component into the decision-making for this strategic planning.”
Recognizing that today’s generation is much different than senior mariners is also important. “When I joined the Coast Guard back in 1992, I went in knowing I’d have to earn my stripes, but the youth coming up nowadays aren’t necessarily so focused on earning their stripes,” Peace said. “That’s a different mentality, and maybe we need to start looking at that. Maybe there has to be a shift culturally with the upper generation understanding that the younger generation doesn’t see it their same way.”
To draft an inclusive plan that considers the needs of each industry segment, MarAd also sought input from multiple federal agency partners and stakeholders, including maritime labor. The plan focuses on safety; economic strength and global competitiveness; climate and sustainability; transformation; eliminating sexual assault and harassment of trainees on U.S.-flag merchant vessels; organizational excellence; and more.
It lays out 36 goals ranging from establishing a stronger maritime industry presence on the U.S. Department of Labor WorkforceGPS website to promoting continued support of the reserve Strategic Sealift Officer Program to working with federal and industry stakeholders to improve shipboard working conditions and climate to promoting the use of U.S.-flag vessels in the offshore wind energy.
Chamber of Shipping of America President and CEO Kathy Metcalf agrees speedy execution of the plan is crucial. So is weaving the MarAd plan into a larger developing National Maritime Strategy focusing on the need for improvements from a national security perspective.
“Most of what’s in (the plan) is stuff we pretty much know,” she said. “With the number of U.S.-flagged ships dwindling … it’s difficult to attract folks to an industry that’s perceived as dwindling,” she said. “The U.S. maritime industry needs to be enhanced and revitalized in general. There are a lot of things we can look at,” including modifying some of the tax codes to have them closer match the policies of other nations.
The plan states that “supporting mariner retention and attracting the next generation of employees to this industry is paramount to maintaining and strengthening national security and economic prosperity.” Peace and Metcalf agreed, saying it’s imperative to step up efforts to reach potential future mariners at a younger age. Middle- and high school-aged students are being wooed by land-based tech and engineering industries, for example, and the seagoing industry must keep up and do the same, Metcalf said.
Peace commended MarAd for seeking input from recently graduated cadets who, among other things, stressed the need to install reliable wireless internet aboard all ships to keep mariners connected with friends and family on shore. More input from younger generations is needed, he said.
Peace chairs the board of a local aerospace and maritime high school in Cleveland, where he tries to get students excited about the maritime industry. “One of the biggest takeaways from the MarAd plan is that we, as an industry, need to look beyond the regular haunts we’ve always gone to for new recruits.”
John Stauffer, associate vice chancellor at San Jacinto College in Houston, Texas, applauds these initiatives to inform younger students about the industry’s benefits. His school is doing the same kinds of outreach, typically tapping into underrepresented and diverse groups in the area “to open up this opportunity that they may have never known exists.”
San Jac, as it is sometimes known, is one of 32 U.S. technical colleges and maritime training centers designated by MarAd as a Domestic Maritime Center of Excellence. Several institutions banded together to create the National Maritime Workforce Alliance to form a stronger, unified voice in Washington and focus their collective efforts on growing recruitment, training and retention, Stauffer explained.
Federal legislation that allowed for the Centers of Excellence currently provides no funding, but other opportunities such as cooperative agreements have resulted from the designation. One example is a partnership with a nearby National Defense Reserve Fleet facility that donates equipment to San Jacinto’s maritime program — one of the few within the consortium that is training mariners who will work on ships. And a local industry partner donated $1 million to provide three state-of-the-art simulators that the college promotes through summer camp programs.
San Jacinto’s program has been financially backed by nearby maritime industries that needed “better-educated entry-level mariners,” Stauffer said. To answer this call, the school offers a two-year degree in maritime transportation that includes 13 Coast Guard certificates and two summer internships at sea.
Such efforts are in line with several goals outlined in MarAd’s strategic plan, including strengthening mariner workforce development programs, supporting America’s nearly 200 mariner education and training institutions and improving mariner workforce diversity, and Stauffer said he hopes his program can be replicated elsewhere.
Now, he believes efforts need to be concentrated on lobbying for federal funding that would help the school expand its offerings and help the industry.
There are risks to inaction, Peace said. Over time, they include potential effects to U.S. national security and maritime commerce. Something as simple as a crewing shortage, for instance, can prevent ships from sailing, causing cascading challenges throughout the supply chain.
“We have just enough boats to move just enough of the cargo that we have to move within the nine months of the season,” Peace said, referring to the Great Lakes shipping season. “When one boat is loaded with 70,000 tons and can’t sail, that’s a lost load, and a lost load can translate into no more raw material, and if it gets to the point of in extremis, it could shut down North American manufacturing.”
“Yeah,” Peace added, “there is a lot at stake here.” •