MARAD Awards $7 Million to Maritime Academies

SUNY Maritime Homecoming 2013. Photo courtesy SUNY Maritime 

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration has announced that the United State’s six state maritime academies will each receive $1 million in funding for education and training from a government program that recycles obsolete vessels.

MARAD made the announcement Wednesday that each of the six state academies -including California Maritime Academy, Great Lakes Maritime Academy, Maine Maritime Academy, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, SUNY Maritime College, and Texas Maritime Academy- will receive the funding through the sale of obsolete vessels from the Maritime Administration’s National Defense Reserve Fleet, which were purchased for recycling. The United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) in Kings Point, NY will also receive $1 million in funding.

“The most important element in our U.S. Merchant Marine fleet is our people,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.  “This funding will help ensure that dedicated men and women of our maritime academies continue to have the resources that make them the best educated and most highly trained mariners anywhere.”

The National Maritime Heritage Act requires that 25 percent of the profit from sales is distributed to maritime academies for facility and training ship maintenance, repair, and modernization, and for the purchase of simulators and fuel; 25 percent is provided to the National Park Service, which provides grants for maritime heritage activities through the National Maritime Heritage Grants Program; and 50 percent funds the acquisition, maintenance, and repair of vessels in the National Defense Reserve Fleet.

“The Maritime Administration continues to focus on the future of our maritime industry,” said Acting Maritime Administrator Paul “Chip” Jaenichen.  “We’re proud to support the education that prepares the next generation of maritime professionals for the challenges they will face.”

Since 2009, the Maritime Administration has provided more than $8.9 million in funding generated from vessel sales to the state academies and the United States Merchant Marine Academy.

The Agency supports maritime academies by providing direct funding and also scholarships though a student incentive payment program to a select number of state maritime academy students who commit to a post-graduation service obligation. In addition, MARAD also provides training vessels to all six state maritime academies for use in at-sea training and as shore side maritime skills and proficiency laboratories.

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