Great Lakes Maritime Academy Receives Support for Education and Training

U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin today announced support for the Great Lakes Maritime Academy at Northwest Michigan College's Great Lakes Campus. The Academy will receive a $1 million grant, which comes through the Department of Transportation, to be used for education and training.

"Just last week I had the opportunity to visit the Great Lakes Maritime Academy and see our cadets piloting ships using the Academy's new state-of-the-art simulator," said Stabenow. "Our Great Lakes support hundreds of thousands of jobs. This support will help Northern Michigan's Maritime Academy continue to be the go-to institution for training the future leaders of our commercial shipping industry."

"Shipping is a major driver of the Great Lakes economy, and trained crews are essential to the safe and efficient operation of our merchant fleet," said Levin. "As the only freshwater institution of its kind, the Great Lakes Maritime Academy is essential to the region's economy and to continuing our maritime heritage, and I'm pleased that this federal support will help it fulfill its vital mission."

The Great Lakes Maritime Academy trains deck and engineering officers for the commercial shipping industry. The Academy is the only maritime academy in the United States that offers graduates the opportunity to be licensed to work on the Great Lakes and on the sea.

The $1 million grant was made possible by the sale of obsolete vessels from the Maritime Administration's National Defense Reserve Fleet, which were purchased for recycling. The National Maritime Heritage Act requires 25 percent of the sales be distributed to maritime academies for facility and training ship maintenance, repair, and modernization, and for the purchase of simulators and fuel.