Workboat Academy Wins National Award for Training Excellence

The Workboat Academy, a unit of maritime training leader MITAGS-PMI, has won the prestigious Lloyd’s List 2015 North American Maritime Award for Training. 

Marja van Pietersom, Academy Director, accepted the award on behalf of her colleagues and staff at the 2015 Lloyd's List North American Maritime Awards Dinner in Houston on February 18. 

“This award is a tribute to our success in turning out qualified and prepared deck officers for the workboat industry,” van Pietersom stated. “It is the result of a team effort among our partner companies, the Workboat Academy captains, instructors, mentors, staff and cadets. This award belongs to ALL!” 

Aimed at the entry-level mariner, the two-year program is offered in Seattle, Baltimore and New Orleans. When it was first launched in 2006, it had just five students, three of whom are sailing today as captains. Over the last eight years it has graduated nearly 500 cadets, all of whom took jobs in the industry and thereby helped alleviate the critical shortage of 500-1,600 ton Mates in Near Coastal and Oceans waterway sectors. 

Today, the Workboat Academy offers five programs a year and works with over 40 partner companies, who provide internships for the cadets. The retention rates of the cadets who remain with the Partner Companies upon successful completion of the program is nintey-five percent.

As part of its overall outreach effort, the Workboat Academy, MITAGS-PMI and a number of community colleges are working toward earning a Department of Labor National Grant for Engineering Apprenticeships.

Lloyd’s List annual North American Maritime Awards acknowledge the best and brightest in various sectors of the maritime industry. The Training Award honors a company or institution for distinction in its course offerings and for contributing to improved educational standards across the industry.