MARAD PROMOTES NEED FOR NEW GENERATION OF MARINERS

MARAD PROMOTES NEED FOR NEW GENERATION OF MARINERS    U.S. Maritime Administration plans to conduct a number of outreach programs to introduce youth to the nation’s maritime industry.
   “One of the most important issues facing our industry over the next decade is the recruitment and retention of qualified, well-trained U.S. merchant mariners,” said Maritime Administrator William G. Schubert to the Third General Assembly of the International Association of Maritime Universities in Rockport, Maine this week.
   “The Maritime Administration and the industry recognizes that the current pool of available U.S. mariners may not be sufficient to sustain both commercial and military shipping activities in the event of a prolonged national military action,” Schubert said. “I have a great deal of pride in what the Maritime Administration and the maritime industry are doing to address this concern.”
   Through the Transportation Department’s Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Futures Program, MarAd will help to prepare the maritime workforce for technology advances in the industry.
   “Our participation in this intermodal program is an opportunity to interest students of all ages in maritime careers and help them contribute to our goal of building a strong maritime marine,” Schubert said.
   MarAd has also participated in a series of mariner recruitment and retention conferences that began in the spring of 2000 and concluded in spring of 2002.
   “I am please do say that we are currently working on a Public Service Announcement about maritime careers,” Schubert said. “This announcement has the potential for being received in homes across the nation and through satellite tracking, there is capability for knowing how many homes actually view the announcement. This PSA, as it is called, is a gigantic step in MarAd’s mariner recruitment and retention awareness campaign.”
   MarAd administers programs to meet sealift requirements determined by the Defense Department and related national security activities. Some of its programs include the Ready Reserve Force, Maritime Security Program and Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement.
   The agency also conducts national security planning, training, and operations in areas such as emergency communications, naval control and civil direction of shipping, war risk insurance, and port emergency operations.