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QUALITY SHIPYARDS LOOKS FOR SHIPFITTERS AND WELDERS Joseph Badeaux, general manager and vice president at Houma, La.-based Quality Shipyards--a subsidiary of Tidewater Inc., said ?shipbuilders along the U.S. Gulf and on the East and West Coasts need more skilled people. Even though some yards are slow now, there aren?t enough people to do the work. I could hire another 30 ship tters and welders, and have been trying for six months to get them in. We have people working more than 40 hours a week, earning overtime. Quality Shipyards has 160 employees. ?We mostly hire experienced people,? he said. ?But it?s hard to recruit and retain people. Workers will leave a job for another 25 cents an hour somewhere else. There aren?t a lot of high school graduates coming into our industry so we have an aging workforce.? Badeaux said ?we haven?t been allowed to hire foreign, seasonal workers under H-2B visas since 2009? by federal law. ?The industry used to have an H-2B program that was good for us.? Tidewater is currently building one boat in Houma, Badeaux said. Quality Shipyards provides new vessel construction, conversion and repair services at yards on the Intracoastal Waterway at mile marker 57 near Houma. In the 40 years since it founding, Quality has built more than 270 vessels. New Orleans based Tidewater Inc. owns and operates one of the world?s biggest eets serving offshore oil and gas. NATIONAL MARITIME EDUCATION COUNCIL FORMEDIndustry leaders formed the National Marine Education Council this year. ?The objective is to establish a formal, maritime workforce-development system,? Badeaux said. He noted that the state of Alabama has a Marine Training Center, which opened in late 2010 in Mobile and provides resources to shipbuilders to train workers. NMEC chairman Lotshaw said ?building the educational infrastructure to support industry is very important these days. The NMEC has kicked off an effort to develop standardized de nitions of craft and standardized curriculum for those crafts. The idea is to attract a broad cross section of industry to participate in what?s required to train incoming craftsmen.? Lotshaw also insists, ?while we have a strong nucleus, we need more participants to be successful.? The NMEC doesn?t have an of ce yet but it?s likely to be in Florida. ?We?re looking at what the craft needs are, what to teach, what the complaints are,? Lotshaw said. ?And we?re partnering with an organization, NCCER, that has a strong track history of doing similar things in the construction industry. The goal is a strong nationwide curriculum, taught consistently, that results in credentialing of those who complete it.? The National Center for Construction Education and Research or NCCER is a foundation based in Florida. July 2012
