Alaska and the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education, in conjunction with the SIU and its contracted employers, continue to help provide residents of America’s northernmost state with the opportunity to start careers in the U.S. Merchant Marine.Six years ago, the union began working with Alaska’s congressional delegation, the governor’s office and local officials to offer Alaska citizens an avenue to join the unlicensed apprentice program offered at the Paul Hall Center in Piney Point, Md. More recently, the union and school partnered with Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski and his administration to recruit and train dislocated workers from Alaska for jobs in the merchant marine through a Ketchikan-based nonprofit agency called SEA Link. Additionally, a separate Anchorage-based program has helped Alaskans gain employment on “riding gangs” aboard SIU-contracted Alaska Tanker Company vessels taking North Slope crude to refineries on the West Coast.
These efforts have been facilitated by the opening of the SIU hall in Anchorage, Alaska in May 1997. Since then, nearly 50 Alaskans have graduated from the unlicensed apprentice program, and many have returned to the Paul Hall Center to upgrade. Another 26 individuals currently are enrolled in different phases of apprentice training at the school, while three other Alaskans have completed the school’s program for military veterans.
Through the program for displaced Alaska fishermen, which began only this year, 18 individuals have trained at Piney Point and subsequently shipped out aboard SIU-contracted vessels. A dozen more were ready to ship out as this issue of the Seafarers LOG went to press.
Further, as of late August, 21 Alaskans were training at the Paul Hall Center via the SEA Link program. A dozen more were scheduled to start training this month, and 10 others are slated to begin their schooling in October.
“With more work coming to Alaska through the movement of cargo and oil on U.S.-flag ships, it’s appropriate that Alaskans have the opportunity to work on these vessels,” said SIU President Michael Sacco. “Thanks to the cooperative work of the union, the school, the union’s contracted companies as well as government, these programs help give Alaskans the chance to travel to Piney Point and join others from around the country in learning what it takes to become a merchant mariner.”
The apprentice program, substantially expanded in the 1990s, has been a staple of Piney Point training since the school opened in 1967. Trainees start with 12 weeks of basic seamanship schooling at the Paul Hall Center and then spend 90 days aboard a U.S.-flag ship alternately working in each shipboard department. Finally, they return to the school for another five weeks of safety and department-specific training.
When Alaskans began entering the apprentice program in 1997, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens called it “a great opportunity for Alaskans to get the training they need for a maritime career. This program fills a void.”
Harold Holten, SIU port agent in Anchorage, noted that Alaskans have flourished at the Paul Hall Center. “The individuals we’ve gotten from our recruiting efforts in Alaska have been exceptional,” he said. “They tend to be the leaders among their peers at the school.”
He added, “This all started when Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska) visited a ship years ago while at port in Valdez and asked to speak to the Alaska hires. When the ship’s captain responded that there were no Alaskans on board and that he didn’t know of any crew members on other ships that were Alaskan, Congressman Young got the ball rolling with local marine businesses to sponsor schooling for Alaskans interested in seagoing jobs.”
Since then, response from Alaskan students has been exceptionally positive. The remarks of Eileen Lammers, a recent graduate of the apprentice program, are very much representative of her follow Alaskans who have trained at Piney Point. “People at school want to help,” she said. “It’s tough love, but they really want us to succeed. I also was surprised by how much there is to learn. I started college when I was 17, was going into accounting but didn’t like it, and figured this (Piney Point) would be a way to figure out what I want.
“I noticed a big difference right away,” she continued. “In college you’re in the books all the time. Here, if you need help, they take time out and show you how things are done. I see that with a lot of students here, including academics. In college, you’re on your own. Here, it’s more of a family organization. We help each other.”
For more information about the Paul Hall Center, see pages 12-13 of the September LOG or visit the Paul Hall Center section of this web site.
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