Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education

The Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education is an educational facility in Piney Point, Maryland

Piney Point, Maryland

Piney Point is an unincorporated community in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. It is known for the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education, a popular seafood restaurant, beautiful houses along the beach, a lighthouse, and a "Museum." The Piney Point post office also...

which is affiliated with the Seafarers International Union

Seafarers International Union of North America

The Seafarers International Union or SIU is an organization of 12 autonomous labor unions of mariners, fishermen and boatmen working aboard vessels flagged in the United States or Canada. Michael Sacco has been its president since 1988. The organization has an estimated 35,498 members and is the...

. Founded in 1967 in Brooklyn, New York as the "The Seafarers' Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship", the Paul Hall Center is the largest training facility for deep sea merchant seafarers and inland waterways boatmen in the United States. The school was moved to the 60 acres (242,811.6 m²) plot at the confluence of the Potomac River

Potomac River

The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

and St. George's Creek at the Piney Point location in 1991, and at the same time renamed after former SIU president Paul Hall

Paul Hall (labor leader)

Paul Hall was an American labor leader from Inglenook in Jefferson County, Alabama. He was a founding member and president of the Seafarers International Union from 1957 to 1980...

.

According to SIU, "Tens of thousands of rated and licensed seamen have completed upgrading classes at the training center. Additionally, more than 21,000 men and women from every state in the U.S., Puerto Rico and several U.S. territories have graduated from the trainee program for those just beginning their maritime careers."

The center features a number of buildings, including:

the Joseph Sacco Fire Fighting and Safety School,
the Seafarers Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship,
the Thomas B. Crowley Sr. Education Center, and
the Paul Hall Library and Maritime Museum.
The Romeo Lupinacci Culunary lab

Prior to the opening of the Paul Hall Center, SIU maintained training facilities at five different ports. In 1966, the union bought the Piney Point site. The program grew to include other offerings, such as a reading skills program, a high-school equivalency program, an adult basic skills program, and English as a Second Language program.

In 1978, SIU entered into an arrangement with Charles County Community College of Maryland which allows participants to earn an Associates of Arts degree. In 1993, the Maryland Higher Education Commission authorized the college program to change its degree award to an Associate of Applied Science degree and to a certificate program in Maritime Technology.

NCL America

In 2004, Norwegian Cruise Lines' NCL America division began operating the Pride of Aloha

Pride of Aloha

Norwegian Sky is a Sky class cruise ship owned and operated by Norwegian Cruise Line. She was originally ordered by Costa Cruises as Costa Olympia from the Bremer Vulkan shipyard in Germany, but she was completed in 1999 by the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven, Germany for the Norwegian Cruise...

in Hawai'i. The cruise line was plagued by customer complaints which prompted them to seek out a training program for new employees. The Paul Hall Center was the location of NCL America's training facility until early 2007, when training operations were moved to a dedicated facility at Barber's Point, HI.

External links

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NCL America

See also

External links