Maritime Training Facility at Delgado Community College Awarded $850,000 Federal Grant

March 03, 2020

The Delgado Community College Maritime and Industrial Training Facility in New Orleans East has been awarded an $850,000 federal grant that will enhance its ability to train the regional maritime workforce.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced March 2 it is awarding $850,000 to Delgado to train workers in Louisiana’s maritime industry. The grant will be matched with over $264,000 in local funds and is expected to create 100 jobs, according to the EDA.

Delgado completed construction on a new 18,750 square-foot training facility at 13200 Old Gentilly Road in March 2016. The total cost of the addition to the existing facility was $7 million funded with state bonds.

“The new Delgado Maritime and Industrial Training Facility in New Orleans will train new deckhands in preparation for entry into the inland water transportation industry,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development John Fleming. “EDA is pleased to support the expansion of Delgado’s maritime training program, and the project’s location in an Opportunity Zone will attract additional new private investment.”

“We are excited to begin this next stage in the growth and expansion of our capacity to serve the maritime industry, thanks to this award from the EDA,” said Larissa Littleton-Steib, chancellor of Delgado Community College. “Having it come as a result of the Opportunity Zone program makes it a perfect match with Delgado’s mission of educating the regional workforce for economic vitality.”

Louisiana has 150 Opportunity Zones. Created by the Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the zones aim to spur economic development in distressed communities nationwide.

The Delgado Maritime and Industrial Training Facility has earned a national and international reputation for providing high-quality maritime and industrial firefighting, radar, safety and U.S. Coast Guard-approved training. For over two decades, Delgado’s experienced instructors have trained licensed mariners and industry personnel in the maritime, oil and gas, and safety/homeland security fields. Courses can be tailored to meet a company’s specific needs.

State-of-the-art simulators at the facility, operated under the guidance of experienced captains, provide early-career and advanced mariners with hands-on training needed to achieve licensing. The simulators replicate a wide range of situations encountered on regional waterways, from inland and offshore wheelhouse simulation to running a light boat in the Intracoastal Canal, or pushing 30 loaded barges southbound in the Mississippi River with a 6,000-horsepower towboat.