"The International Maritime Organization convened and hammered out an agreement between virtually every maritime country that spelled out the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping of Seafarers (STCW) worldwide," said Rodney Coco of Seacor Marine in Morgan City.

"These standards provided a detailed blueprint of the level of training that would be required of seafarers who currently sail, the proverbial "old salts" and for entry-level sailors.

"Seacor Marine Inc. was faced with the daunting task of having to train the majority of our employees to meet these new standards and it had to be done quickly," Coco said.

Without these trainings, mariners would lose their licenses and ability to remain in the marine workforce in existing capacities.

"Having been involved with the Marine Operations Department of the Louisiana Technical College, Young Memorial Campus, since 1973, I turned to them for help to meet this challenge. Walking out of the meeting, I asked Young Memorial Campus Dean Greg Garrett if Young Memorial could respond to industry needs once again," Coco recalled.

Garrett immediately enacted a plan by which STCW could be offered on Youngs Road in Morgan City.

At that time the U.S. Coast Guard estimated 20,000 mariners in the Eighth District, headquartered in New Orleans serving the Gulf Coast, would be affected.

A vast majority of STCW training applies to all mariners serving offshore on commercial vessels over 200 gross tons.

Essentially, licenses were scheduled to expire Feb. 1, barring they comply with STCW 95 standards by that time. This date was relaxed to include another year, or until February 2003.

The Young Memorial Marine Department, working in conjunction with industry and several campus departments, researched, developed and submitted the "Basic Safety Training" component of STCW Convention 1995.

The entire 220-page curriculum was conceived, written, submitted and received full United States Coast Guard approval within three months of the April 1999 meeting.

"Young Memorial has always provided training for our employees when there was no one else to turn to. As the implementation of the STCW 95 treaty was looming, Young Memorial asked numerous companies in the area what we would like from them to meet our needs," said Steve Marcrum, Candy Fleet Corp. in Morgan City.

"We held numerous discussions about courses needed and improvements to the campus that these new courses would require. The staff of Young Memorial developed the curriculum. Local industry chipped in and the improvements to the campus were made. We at Candy Fleet are proud to have been a part of this endeavor," he said.

In addition to Basic Safety Training, Young Memorial endeavored to author, and offer, other trainings, including Global Marine Distress Safety Signaling, Survival Craft Proficiency, Bride Resource Management, and Tankerman.

With only a handful of training institutes offering STCW at the time, there was an abundance of demand.

Young Memorial began coordinating the curriculum development and facility upgrade simultaneously.

"Greg and his staff rolled up their sleeves and went to work developing US Coast Guard approved courses for submission to the National Maritime Center for approval as required by the STCW Convention," Coco said.

"At the same time he called on local industry to begin raising funds to build the necessary training facility. The extra ordinary efforts of he and his staff resulted in a first class training facility that has received worldwide recognition. The cost of the training is reasonable considering what private training facilities offer."

It became evident that the minimum financial resources needed to offer these courses exceeded $400,000.

Young Memorial’s strategy to achieve this goal was threefold: Industry investment via donations, Incumbent Worker Training Grants, with campus budget absorbing the balance.

Candy Fleet of Morgan City donated $31,000 for a training pool and Seacor Marine donated $50,000 toward the pool enclosure.

A sampling of additional companies contributing toward facility establishment included: Laborde Marine, Oceaneering International, Cal Dive International, L-M BoTruc Rentals, Diamond Offshore, Stolt Comex Seaway, Devall Towing, Diamond Services, SeaMar and Higman Towing, to name a few.

"Young Memorial has always had a close working relationship with its business and industry partners," said Garrett.

"However, the financial support provided by so many marine companies far exceeded my personal expectations as the administrator of Young Memorial. Our success in developing these new U.S. Coast Guard-approved training programs must be shared with our industry supporters," he said.

Construction of the training pool began Jan. 3, 2000, and was completed early February 2000. Seacor Marine’s donation was utilized to construct an enclosure allowing water survival training year-round.

Companies also participated in the Louisiana Department of Labor’s Incumbent Worker Training Program that provided an avenue for tuition relief to companies, procurement of necessary instructors, training equipment and supplies for the establishment of STCW courses.

Since 1999, Young Memorial has authored seven marine Incumbent Worker Grants totaling $2.4 million for local marine companies.

Training resources such as a state-of-the-art GMDSS lab, fire fighting equipment, life rafts, and computers were purchased to offer training for years to come.

Industry was steadfast in ensuring that donations exceeded minimum requirements of facilities for the furtherance quality construction and instruction.

To date, donations from local industry have eclipsed $250,000 and, when coupled with Incumbent Worker Grant Awards, met the targeted goals.

The Marine Operations Department staff would then be expanded in anticipation of training thousands of mariners over the ensuing years. A department with three instructors in 1999 would quickly expand to a staff of 20, including Coast Guard-approved instructors and support staff.

Captain Carl Moore, Marine Operations Department director, takes pride in all that has been accomplished and attributes much of that success to the caliber of the faculty and staff.

"Industry’s support was a major factor in putting together Young Memorial’s safety training facilities. Yet, I believe the marine instructors and staff are the heart and soul that make our department one of the best in the nation. It’s the people that make a good school a great school," Moore said.

Marcrum agreed. "The staff of Young Memorial is an exceptional group of people. They have created a training facility that is the envy of many schools. This campus, in my opinion, is one of the major success stories of Morgan City. I am proud to be associated with this campus and this staff."

This expansion was due to the considerable efforts of the entire campus personnel collectively. "Each department, from Drafting to Welding, Diving to Electrician, Office Occupations to Incumbent Worker and others in between, contributed toward this success. Our human resource has proved to be most valuable," said Jimmy Sawtelle, assistant dean.

Since June 2000 when STCW Training was first offered LTC, Young Memorial has issued more than 10,800 Industry Based STCW Certifications.

These partnerships have assisted local marine companies and allowed LTC, Young Memorial to respond to the charge of providing STCW certifications to local, state and national mariners.

Several positive side effects have come from this expansion, benefiting the local industry, community and economy.

Below is a brief description new marine trainings offered since June 2000.  A total of 10,827certificates have been issued over the previous 2 years, numbers of certificates issued respectively are in parenthesis.