The Ocean as Proving Ground: Training the Next Generation of Mariners

Allan Rutter: 00:15
Howdy everyone, welcome to Thinking Transportation, conversations about how we get ourselves and the stuff we need from one place to another. I’m Allan Rutter with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. Perhaps you’ve driven across the Houston Ship Channel on the Fred Hartman Bridge, or on the Galveston Port Bolivar Ferry, or across the Corpus Christi Ship Channel on the new Harbor Bridge. When you see the huge tankers or container ships, do you ever think about who’s on board? On the bridge or in the engine room? Where do those crews come from?

Allan Rutter: 00:49
Today I have the pleasure of talking with a leader of one of our Texas A&M University System partner institutions, the Texas A&M University at Galveston and its Texas A&M Maritime Academy, about how mariners are trained in Texas. Captain Allan Post has served as assistant vice president for Marine Education Support and emergency management coordinator at TAMU- Galveston for almost 17 years. And since 2019, Captain Post is also deputy superintendent of the Texas A&M Maritime Academy. Captain Post, welcome to Thinking Transportation.

Allan Post: 01:27
Pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.

Allan Rutter: 01:29
So one of the cool things about working at TTI and within the A&M System is the chance to work with so many smart people with really interesting backgrounds. Can you explain how your journey brought you to marine transportation and to Texas A&M University-Galveston?

Allan Post: 01:47
It is a very uninteresting story, but the story nonetheless. I grew up in the mid-Hudson Valley of New York and went to Maritime Academy in New York. I didn’t grow up in Texas, but I did get here as soon as I could. And I’ve now lived south of I-10 longer than anywhere else. So I’ve got my Texas papers and I’m hopefully good to go. I grew up on the water, on the Hudson River– the river that flows both ways. And my first job was on a replica Dutch sloop called the Clearwater, 106-foot gaff-rigged replica sloop, which started my passion, really, for being on the water. It was a lot of fun growing up and working on board. They do a lot of marine and environmental education on the ship for the school children in the area and even adults during the summer outside of summer camps. Ended up moving to New Orleans way back in 1998. Yes, the late 1900s, and was working near coastal and on the western rivers before Hurricane Ivan chased me out in 2004, ended up settling here in Galveston, worked for TxDOT for a little bit, running the ferry, and then dinner cruise company ended up here almost 17 years ago. Slowly worked my way up the chain to be assistant vice president and deputy superintendent for the Maritime Academy.

Allan Rutter: 03:09
So a water guy from the beginning, then.

Allan Post: 03:12
My grandfather has always had boats, my grandfather post, and he also had one of the only golden retrievers that didn’t like the water. His name was Lucky, and one time their boat started taking on water and he got it to shore, and the dog stepped off the boat onto the land without even getting his feet wet.

Allan Rutter: 03:28
Well, that explains an awful lot. Now, I understand that the Maritime Academy of Texas A&M is one of six national maritime academies that are coordinated through the Maritime Administration of the USDOT. What do these maritime academies do? And how is the Texas A&M Maritime Academy similar to the others? And how are you distinctive?

Allan Post: 03:55
Well, that’s an awesome question. But first, let me give you a little bit of background. Ninety percent of what you buy is transported by ship. So the clothes that you’re wearing, everything in your homes, 90 percent of it comes by ship. Twenty-eight percent of the GDP of Texas, according to the governor’s office, is maritime- industry related. Now, why is that important to Texas? Everybody goes, “oh, Texas is a big agribusiness and petrochemical business state.” Well, why is all of that successful? Because you can get it to market both around the country and around the world on ships. As Maritime Academy, our mission is to produce mariners who work both afloat and ashore, driving, maintaining, operating these ships and ports to be able to move commodities and goods around the country and around the world. There are six state maritime academies that are operated. Most of them are centered in the old maritime states of New England. We’re the only one here on the Gulf Coast, and there is also one in California. There’s also a federal Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, as well. That is operated directly by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Allan Post: 05:09
So we all offer a very similar program. You can graduate from our academies with either a license as a third deck officer or a license as a third assistant engineer. Most of the academies offer different degrees, academic degrees, under that. We’re the only academy connected to a Tier 1 institution, Texas A&M University. We are a branch campus and a unit of that branch campus. So we have all of the services of that Tier 1 university available to all of our cadets. And that is a huge differentiator. Second thing is– only one here on the Gulf Coast. And the third thing is, is we are situated down here in Galveston, Texas, right at the crossroads of industry and transportation. It is all around us. You are immersed in it every day. And we like to say our motto is: leading Texas, serving the nation, and connecting the world.

Allan Rutter: 06:05
So you mentioned one of the things that the academy does, which was the Coast Guard license program. I understand there are three different sorts of tracks for the cadets at your academy: the Coast Guard License Program, the Naval ROTC, which would be pursuing an active duty commission in the Navy or Reserve Commission in the Navy through the Strategic Sea Lift Midshipment Program, or as a member of the Galveston Corps of Cadets. Tell our listeners a little bit about those three different kinds of experiences at the Academy.

Allan Post: 06:41
Absolutely. The license program is a federal program. It’s called the Federal Mariner Licensing Program. And it is designed really to keep enough mariners active and coming into the system for strategic sealift in case of national emergency or something similar to a sea lift that we had during Desert Storm back in the 1990s, early 1990s. You need to have that cadre of mariners to be able to man all of the ships that bring our military all over the world and supply our military once they’re there. So that was the basis why the program was set up during World War II when it was finally finalized. It was actually set up much earlier than that. The oldest Maritime Academy is a little over 150 years old. We are a little over, hmm, what are we now? About 60 years, uh, 1962. I can’t do math in my head. And it is a great program because not only do you get your degree, you also get a Coast Guard certified license that says you are competent in these skills. And you can go out into the industry immediately upon graduation and serve on a ship. In fact, we have had bidding wars outside of the graduation hall for our cadets as they as they’re handed their license, the company goes, “I’ll take you.” And that was pretty wild when it happened. I’m like, wait, what’s going on here? And so that is one of the things that is really great about getting the license with the degree.

Allan Post: 08:13
In addition to the license, we’re also starting to branch into the shipbuilding industry and working with our academic units to be able to ramp up basically what are called shipwrights. Those are the people that take the plans of the ship and turn them into reality. They direct all the activities of the shipyard, so on and so forth. And with Davy Defense moving in right down the road, it’s a very fortuitous time to do that. If you wish to serve in the uniformed services of the United States, you can also join through the ROTC program and you will be direct commissioned into the navy. You can also be a strategic sealift midshipman program participant, where you can also get what’s called the student incentive payment, which is a $64,000 stipend, and you have to give them back X number of time in the reserves as what’s called a strategic sealift officer. So those are the first people called up if we have to move our armed forces overseas before the rest of us, who are in the inactive reserves would get called up and say, “hey, need you to take all this overseas.” In addition to that, anybody can also join our Corps of Cadets from any major here on our campus as a drill and ceremonies cadet. So if they like the leadership structure and they like the leadership development and the structure that the Corps of Cadets provides, they can also join that way.

Allan Rutter: 09:33
So we talked about the Maritime Academy’s educating mariners. As you think about the number of ships that come up the Houston Ship Channel, either to Texas City or to the port of Houston, how many of those ships have U.S. mariners on them versus international? Because I understand that if you’re thinking about container ships or the other things that are coming into Bayport or Barbours Cut, a lot of those come from other countries.

Allan Post: 10:03
That’s absolutely correct. And the president has produced a maritime action plan to hopefully turn that around. And one of the things that’s going to help with that is cargo preference, carrying United States -bound cargo on United States ships with United States mariners. But all of your towboats, the tugboats, and each one of those ships has to have a pilot. And those pilots are all United States mariners. So the tugboats that help the ships in, they all have United States mariners on them. The towboats that are going up and down the intercoastal waterway and shuttling petrochemicals and stuff between the refineries, those are all U.S. mariners. So it’s a mix right now. Most of the ships that come through here are what’s called foreign flagged and do have international crews on board. But like I said, there’s a big move afoot to really bring the U.S. flag ship international ship fleet count back to where it was in the 60s.

Allan Rutter: 10:58
Where are some of your cadet graduates? Where do they go?

Allan Post: 11:02
Oh, wow. They go all over the world. That’s the neat thing about Aggies, is you can find us anywhere. A lot of them go into a military seal of command, which is supplying our armed forces. A lot of them become harbor pilots, which are those harbor pilots that are on each one of the ships coming into port. We do also have a lot that are in the commercial Jones Act tanker fleet, and they’re shuttling petrochemicals and stuff back and forth across the Gulf of Mexico and up and down the east and west coast. But one of the things we like to say is here out of Texas, you can go to the Near East or Far East, that’s Tampa or Jacksonville, down in Florida, and they bring different types of petrochemical commodities, gasoline, diesel fuel, oil back and forth around the country. In addition to that, the Gulf Coast oil field also takes a lot of our mariners. There’s a large supply vessel fleet and oil exploration fleet still in the Gulf of Mexico working every day. And so there is plenty of jobs and good -paying jobs.

Allan Rutter: 12:04
Well, that’s what it sounds like. I mean, if you compare graduated classes that are happening anywhere between May and June within the state of Texas, your guys probably have a much better chance of there’s a job waiting for them once they get out.

Allan Post: 12:20
Absolutely. And the salaries are over $100,000 a year.

Allan Rutter: 12:24
Well, clearly, we’ll do our best to advertise for entry into your program. Another thing about the academy, one of the unique experiences you guys offer is an interactive summer sea term as part of the license option program. Tell us a little bit about what that entails, where it occurs, and what it means to your cadets.

Allan Post: 12:48
Absolutely. Because the Coast Guard certifies you as knowledgeable in the field you’re entering, whether deck or engine, you actually have to go out on a ship and demonstrate the skills you’ve learned in the classroom. And our training ship is a seagoing laboratory where you work side by side with the instructors that you’ve had all year long in the classroom. The whole academy sets sail on the training ship every summer, and you have to demonstrate those skills. You have to get hands-on, you have to get dirty, you have to do the navigation, you have to change the oil filter. You know, there’s a whole lot of stuff that goes into keeping a ship moving and safe. And so you have to obtain 360 days of sea time on board a ship. And we take care of that every summer. You take three summer sea terms. You do also have the option for your junior year to go on a commercial internship. We have a number of commercial partners out in the industry where we will place cadets on board as interns, where they will shadow the mates on board or the engineers on board learning hands-on in real time, in real situations, what to do and most importantly, what not to do.

Allan Rutter: 14:06
Right. Well, it sounds like that internship program is distinctive from study abroad in that you’re working while you’re doing that as opposed to touristing.

Allan Post: 14:15
Absolutely. You are 100% working and you get paid to do it.

Allan Rutter: 14:21
Well, that’s fabulous. Now, the academy has had a number of vessels over time that host these summer sea terms, but this year marks an important transition as your cadets are joining cadets from the main maritime academy this summer on the brand new training ship TS Maine, one of the new class of national security multi-mission vessels, or NSMVs. Tell our listeners a little bit about what these new vessels are designed to do in terms of maritime education and disaster response.

Allan Post: 14:55
So this new class of vessels, the NSMV, it was a concept that came up… Oh, wow. It’s almost approaching 15 years now in its concept beginning. What happened was that the United States no longer has ships on its last legs that they can convert into training ships. Historically, since the first training ship, the USS St. Mary’s, was converted for merchant mariner training, every training ship in our fleet has been a converted commercial or naval vessel on its last mission. These are the first purpose-built training ships that the United States has ever had, and they are world-class. I would say best in the world. Five of them are being built. We are going to get number four. And just today I talked with the vessel master, and they are about to get under way for the first time under their own power with sea trials up at Hanwha Philadelphia Shipyard. And we’re hoping to take delivery of the ship in the end of August.

Allan Post: 15:54
And it’s going to be a game changer. It’s collegiate fit and finish, so it really looks sharp. It has twice as many labs as the old converted ships had and two bridges, which is absolutely awesome because you can have an operational bridge and a training bridge all doing the same thing at the same time, but without interfering with the actual safe operation and navigation of the ship. Same thing with the engine room. It has two completely separate, independent but identical engine rooms so you can train in one and operate the ship in another. These ships are also designed for disaster response, which is really awesome in the fact that should there be a natural disaster anywhere along the coast or even the Caribbean, our older ships were called up for active service. And in designing the concept and completing the plans for these ships, that disaster relief service was built into them. So they can pull up into a port under their own power. They can take relief workers on board and house them and feed them. It’s got an oversized hospital on board so that you can handle minor injuries and you can even triage major injuries if you had to. It’s got a helipad in the back and the ability to carry supplies with it to sustain its operations in a disaster zone. Really awesome concept. And we hope we never have to use it.

Allan Rutter: 17:22
So a few weeks ago, when the Maine rolled up, what was it like seeing that for the first time? I mean, you guys have seen the plans, probably got cameras on your computers watching your ship being built… But seeing it in person, what was that like?

Allan Post: 17:37
Absolutely awe-inspiring. And I say that because even though we’ve had training ships in the past, this ship is about 40 percent more volume and usable space than the older ships. And it’s purpose-built for this mission. So being able to go on board and go, “wow, there is so much we can do with all of this and really take our mariner training and bring it beyond even where we currently are.” That is going to be absolutely awesome for our cadets. It’s a great platform, great live ability. So we’re really excited to get our new one.

Allan Rutter: 18:17
So if the ship has more capacity for education, are you guys anticipating expanding the cadet training program?

Allan Post: 18:26
Absolutely. We are expanding it as we speak. In fact, we were just talking about enrollment for the fall, right before this podcast. And we are going to have another record class come into the Maritime Academy. And over the last two years, we will have increased the overall enrollment in the Academy by 60 percent.

Allan Rutter: 18:46
Wow.

Allan Post: 18:46
And we intend to continue growing to about 800 cadets. And if we get a little bit of regulation change, we could even go as high as a thousand maritime cadets, training them and getting them out into the fleet as we get more U.S. flag vessels. So it’s a pretty exciting time, and it’s pretty neat to be on the upswing with that.

Allan Rutter: 19:10
It’s always better to be in a growth pattern than to be managing decline. Now, one of the many hats that you wear, in addition to being deputy superintendent, one of the other hats is to work on physical plan and facilities at the University and the academy. When this new ship comes later this summer, what have you guys been doing to get ready for this bigger, new vessel?

Allan Post: 19:33
Well, this bigger, new vessel is going to require a bigger, new pier. The old pier was designed for much smaller vessels and was no longer going to fit our needs. So, with a majority of federal funding and with some state funding, we’re putting in a $75 million pier, the Lone Star State Pier, that will accommodate the vessel, accommodate the ability to drive vehicles on and off the ship as the ship was intended. Yeah, the side of the ship opens up into a ramp and you can drive right on board. It’s really awesome. And the pier will also include a heavy weather mooring configuration that will allow the ship to stay pier-sided in up to a category two storm. Now we’re never going to do that. We would prefer to get out to sea and away from the storm and come in behind it if it’s heading here towards Galveston. But should for some reason it happens, the pier is substantial enough to hold the ship.

Allan Rutter: 20:27
Well, it strikes me that with that going on with the new Davie Shipyard, with the expansion of a cruise ship terminals on the other side of the channel in Galveston, it’s also a good time to be in the maritime construction business.

Allan Post: 20:44
You betcha. There is a lot of construction going on down here in Galveston.

Allan Rutter: 20:48
So as Galveston’s executive director of safety operations or emergency management coordinator, you’ve been involved in a lot of emergency operations challenges associated with being on the coast; and worked alongside the Texas Division of Emergency Management, or as we call it TDEM, both before and after it became part of the A&M System. What will this new vessel allow or equip the academy and the University to do with TDEM as part of Texas’ emergency preparedness and disaster response?

Allan Post: 21:23
Absolutely a game changer. The ship is fully self-contained, including satellite Internet. We could surge up to a thousand people on the ship. So let’s say there was an Ike- level hurricane impact here in Galveston where it took out the infrastructure for a long time. The ship could be moored at any one of the piers here in Galveston and house an entire emergency operation center, command and control system, as well as all of the emergency operation and first response employees and their gear to be able to respond to that type of an event. I like to say the ship is capable of carrying the entirety of Texas Task Force 1 on board and operate for up to a month without resupply. That’s pretty awesome capability. And like I said, I hope we never have to use that capability, but it’s here if we need it.

Allan Rutter: 22:18
Wow, it sounds almost like a mobile H-E-B plant.

Allan Post: 22:21
Yes, exactly. It’s a fully self-contained emergency response asset that can bring everything you need right to the emergency.

Allan Rutter: 22:30
So we’ve discussed the new Lone Start State, which is a $325 million new vessel, and it’s most likely to come sometime at the end of August, crossing fingers and all kinds of other digits. What kind of plans do you guys have for the special occasion of its arrival?

Allan Post: 22:48
<chime sounding> That sound you just heard is the chime from the official ship’s chronometer of the TS Lone Star State. It sounds every half hour and increases up to eight bells for the change of the watch.

Allan Rutter: 23:11
Wow.

Allan Post: 23:12
Well, the end of August and September down here in Galveston is usually ridiculously warm and humid. So we’re actually going to move the special celebration to November.

Allan Rutter: 23:24
That’s very smart.

Allan Post: 23:25
When the weather is good. So on November 21st, we’re going to be having our plank owner celebration where everyone will get a plank of the ship so that they are part of the maiden crew or the inaugural crew of the vessel. And we will ceremonially sign over the ship from MARAD to the Maritime Academy and man the ship and bring it to life. So that’s gonna be an awesome day. We intend to have a bunch of dignitaries here and things like that. So it’s kind of like the dog that caught the car bumper, and now we’ve got a big new ship, and now we get, yeah, what do we do now? Now we get to show it off and and really learn how to move into the new spaces and utilize those to the maximum potential. So we can’t wait. Everybody is really excited, and having The State of Maine here this past summer was almost like a teaser because we were like, “oh, it looks exactly the same.” We can’t wait for ours now.

Allan Rutter: 24:23
Well, and if you’re thinking about you know, sort of ceremonial things, it’s one thing to go out into a vacant lot under a tent and with shovels and dirt. This is a pretty good backdrop.

Allan Post: 24:34
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. We actually have a tangible asset to to cut the ribbon on and really show the world what Texas A&M can do.

Allan Rutter: 24:44
Well, I can tell from our conversation today that you have plenty of passion for preparing young people for a maritime or naval career at sea. What are some of the reasons that motivates you to show up for work every day?

Allan Post: 24:57
Oh, wow. I love to be able to make a difference by organizing complex things and bring them from concept to reality. And doing so with student success as the motivation is really where it’s at. I love when our students come back after a couple of years at sea and go, “we did a good job.” You know, I know what I’m doing out there and I’m confident. And hopefully within five years, like any good Aggie, they call them boss. So that’s always great when you see them five years later and they’re like, “I’m in charge of SpaceX’s recovery operations.” So that is really neat. Lots of great things, lots of great stories with our graduates and watching them go from wide-eyed freshmen to seasoned mariners is really a motivator.

Allan Rutter: 25:48
Well, that sounds great. Captain Post, thanks again for taking the time to join us today, and we look forward to the November celebrations.

Allan Post: 25:58
Absolutely, and thank you very much for having me.

Allan Rutter: 26:02
I am so glad Captain Post reminded us of the importance of ocean shipping in our supply chains, playing a role in how we get our food, clothing, furniture, electronics, and vehicles. I hope you enjoyed learning about how young men and women are being trained to be part of the maritime workforce at ports all along the Texas coast and on ships around the world. Thanks for listening. If you liked what you heard or learned something, please take just a minute to give us a review, subscribe, and share this episode. I invite you to join us next time for another conversation about getting ourselves and the stuff we need from point A to point B. Thinking Transportation is a production of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, a member of The Texas A&M University System. The show is edited and produced by Chris Pourteau. I’m your host, Allan Rutter. Thanks again for joining us. See you next time.