Delgado Maritime and Industrial Training Center Among 100 Best Companies in Industry

August 16, 2018

The Delgado Community College Maritime and Industrial Training Center, which located its operations in a new 18,000-square-foot facility in New Orleans East in 2016, is profiled in the August 2018 issue of Marine News magazine as one of the 100 best organizations in the international maritime industry.

The magazine’s editor, Joseph Keefe, writes that those on the “MN 100” list each year are “the best companies serving the workboat, brown water, inland and coastal markets.”

Fourteen categories are included on the list: coatings, communications/technology/software/, engine manufacturing, environmental/response/salvage, equipment manufacturing, insurance, naval architecture/design, propulsion, safety, service providers/distributors, shipbuilding/repair, training, vessel operators and water treatment.

“It has been a successful and exciting year” for the maritime industry, Keefe writes. Marine News is online at www.marinelink.com.

The U.S. Coast Guard-approved Delgado facility provides education and workforce training in fields including maritime operations, industrial firefighting and safety, homeland security and leadership skills. Over the past 30 years, the center has provided more than 100,000 certifications to licensed mariners employed in maritime and oil and gas-related professions.

“This center is well known for providing development to tailor courses to meet the specific training needs of clients and companies,” notes the Marine News “MN 100” profile of the Delgado facility. “With a corporate feel and state-of-the-art equipment, this center is able to provide a new and upgraded level of learning for all students,” the story reads. “Curriculum development is constant and ongoing to meet industry demands.”

Among many qualities noted in the profile, the Delgado center is described as “the first school in the United States to offer virtual reality simulation training. With this system, real-life scenarios can be recreated to target a company’s specific protocols in emergency response” (and other operational situations).

The Delgado facility is currently seeking designation as a Domestic Maritime Center of Excellence. Recent legislation authorizes federal designation of community and technical college "centers of excellence" to address a shortage of workers in the nation's maritime workforce and support continuous training in the industry.

The designation would help the Delgado center admit more students, train faculty, expand facilities and create new maritime career avenues from certificate to associate degree to baccalaureate degree programs--awarding credit for prior learning experience, including military service.

Gov. John Bel Edwards has praised the school’s “stellar reputation for workforce training and development in the maritime industry.” Edwards noted that “becoming a center for excellence would provide tremendous opportunities for our state, our people and this industry as a whole."

Louisiana is home to five of the nation's top 15 ports, moving more than 500 million annual tons of cargo. The state is the gateway to the Mississippi River system, connecting the nation’s industrial and agricultural centers with markets around the globe.

Rick A. Schwab, senior director, Delgado Community College Maritime and Industrial Training Center, said, “We are very excited that our work has received this high level of recognition by the maritime industry. It confirms Delgado’s longtime strength in workforce development and it provides strong support for our center’s efforts to become federally designated as a Maritime Center of Excellence.”

The Delgado Community College Maritime and Industrial Training Center in New Orleans has earned a national and international reputation for providing high-quality maritime and industrial firefighting, radar, safety and U.S. Coast Guard-approved training including full mission bridge simulator courses. For over two decades, Delgado’s experienced instructors have helped provide training to licensed mariners and industry personnel in the maritime, oil and gas, and safety/homeland security fields, among others. Courses are tailored to meet the specific needs of industrial clients. Information about the services provided by the Delgado Maritime and Industrial Training Center is available at  https://www.dcc.edu/workforce-development/maritime/default.aspx

Delgado Community College will celebrate 100 years of service to the New Orleans region in 2021. The oldest and largest community college in Louisiana, Delgado provides instruction online and at seven locations. Fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Delgado offers students the most comprehensive array of education and training services available in the 10-parish New Orleans region. Additionally, Delgado has articulation agreements with most of the state’s four-year colleges and universities that allow students to smoothly transfer their Delgado credits to bachelor’s degree programs. As well as offering degrees and transferable college credits, Delgado provides diplomas and certificates in many professional and technical areas. Workforce development is a priority at Delgado, hence the college’s motto: “Education That Works.” www.dcc.edu