(HOUSTON) (Feb. 19) — The Port Arthur International Seafarers’ Center, Houston International Seafarers’ Center, and Galveston Seafarers’ Center were co-recipients of the first ever “Seafarer Advocate Award” given by Lloyd’s List at their inaugural North American Awards Dinner, which was held on February 19 at the Houstonian in Houston, Texas.
The event welcomed over 300 participants from North America, Mexico and the Caribbean. Other award winners included Royal Caribbean Cruises for “Cruise/Passenger Operator of the Year”; the Producers of the Movie “Captain Phillips”, which won the “Newsmaker of the Year” award; and Titan, which won the “Marine Casualty Response Award” for lifting the Costa Concordia from the site of the wreck.
The Seafarer Advocate Award is sponsored by Lloyd’s Registry and recognizes individuals, organizations or groups (including government bodies), which have delivered benchmark services or had other occasions to safeguard and promote the welfare of mariners in North American waters.
Accepting the award for the Port Arthur Seafarers’ Center was Executive Director, Fr. Sinclair Oubre, JCL. “This is recognition of Port Arthur’s 80 years of seafarer welfare service. Beginning in the 1930’s with the Seamen’s Church Institute, operated out of St. George Episcopal Church, the United Seamen’s Service, which served seafarers during World War II, to our present day state-of-the-art center, seafarers have always found a home away from home in Port Arthur. This was also recognition of the strategic importance of the Sabine-Neches Waterway as the fourth largest maritime center in the United States.”
“The Port Arthur Seafarers’ Center welcomes the 23,000 mariners that come into our waterways each year. This would not be possible without the support of the Port of Port Arthur, which has been our greatest ally since 1973,” said Doreen Badeaux, President of the PAISC Board of Directors. “The Port Staff and Commissioners at that time, were really visionaries, and saw the importance of serving the people on the ships that were visiting their docks, and were a driving force behind the establishment of the Center. The current Staff and Commissioners have retained that strong commitment to Seafarers, and to the Center.
The Port Arthur International Seafarers’ Center is an ecumenical outreach to mariners. It serves facilities in Port Arthur, Sabine Pass, Nederland, Port Neches, Orange, and Beaumont, Texas as well as Chenier LNG in Louisiana. The Seafarers’ Center is a registered 501©3 Not for Profit entity established in 1973. The Mission of the PAISC is to provide a home away from home for visiting mariners, while providing safe TWIC escorting in and out of local facilities. The Center also provides advocacy for the rights of mariners, such as when a crew visiting Port Arthur this past September had not been paid their wages for 6 months. The Port Arthur Seafarers’ Center immediately brought in the Coast Guard and the International Transport Worker Federation, in order to ensure that each crewmember was paid. For more information please contact Doreen Badeaux, Board President, Port Arthur International Seafarers’ Center at aosusa@sbcglobal.net
