Dr. Doty, Chancellor RPCC, Paul Aucoin, PSL Executive Director, and (standing) Dale Hymel, PSL COO.
The Port of South Louisiana has entered into a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement (CEA) to provide $10,000 in assistance to River Parishes Community College to develop a workforce training program. The program aims to train and educate students about maritime and rescue operations, primarily on the Mississippi River.
This CEA further cements a nearly 20 year relationship between the Port of South Louisiana and River Parishes Community College.
The program will work to bring in industry experts and teach students the most important skills they need to know in order to have a job on the river.
“What we do when we have a new program that we’re putting together is we sit down with the people who are the experts,” said Dr. Dale Doty, Chancellor of River Parishes Community College, “We end up finding out about the skills that they have to have and then we put together classes that are going to provide those skills in the order that the industry experts tell us that they need to be learned.”
Paul Aucoin, Port of South Louisiana Executive Director and River Parishes Community College Board Member, described the CEA with River Parishes Community College as a “perfect fit” because of the Community College’s central location within the Port district.
“First of all, their students are from the same area as the port district,” said Aucoin, “it would only be natural for the students that live here to work here.”
According to Dr. Doty, the program is mainly being started due to a low number of tow boat deckhands.
“In the last two years specifically, we’ve had a good bit of interaction with a couple of tow companies that are working the river…because of their difficulties getting people prepared to work in that industry and we’ve had those conversations with the Port of South Louisiana about [RPCC] developing a program to prepare people to work on the river,” said Dr. Doty.
Paul Aucoin emphasised that since the Port of South Louisiana is continuously expanding, part of having a successful port is having the necessary crew members on the tow boats.
“If we help a company expand along the river, well that expansion means more river traffic and that means more tow boats and those tow boats mean more deckhands trained to operate those tow boats,” said Aucoin. “It’s a domino effect.”
The program will emphasize safety on the river, which Dr. Doty says will help meet the Port of South Louisiana’s needs as they expand and help the businesses that function within the Port.
“There are safety requirements that are unique to the river…people understanding what they have to be able to do to work on the river and with the Port,” said Dr. Doty.
To ensure students are well qualified and that they have learned the proper safety techniques, Dr. Doty said that RPCC will include maritime certifications.
“[Students are] gonna be ready to go to work and meet the requirements to go to work,” said Dr. Doty.
Dr. Doty said that RPCC’s plan is to not only provide the Port of South Louisiana with a better prepared worker, but to also improve the lives of their students.
“We’re gonna provide an additional opportunity for the people in the river parishes area to learn the skills that are gonna lead them to a great job that’s gonna be here where they live and long term economic stability for them and their families,” said Dr. Doty.
