AMO Breaks Ground For New Center

AMO Breaks Ground For New Center

Dania Beach Property To House Rescue Boat, Survival Classes

AMO members Rich Weyandt, Silvestre Talaban, AMO Deep-Sea Vice President Tom Kelly, John Yegge, Joe Braun and Frank Westgate (left to right) attended the ground-breaking ceremony.

Rep. E. Clay Shaw (R-FL) addresses the audience at the ground-breaking ceremony.

      AMO March 6 broke ground for construction on the site of its waterfront training center near union headquarters in Dania Beach, Fla.
     Wielding the ceremonial shovels as union members looked on were AMO National President Michael R. McKay, Rep. E. Clay Shaw (R-FL), Dania Beach Mayor John Bertino, and Bill Larkins, a staff aide to Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL).
     The site, at the Intracoastal Waterway near Harbour Towne Marina, will be used to train union members in lifeboat and fast rescue boat operations as required under STCW--Standards for Training, Certification and Watchkeeping. STCW is a safety convention adopted by the International Maritime Organization of the United Nations and enforced in the U.S. by the Coast Guard.
     The site will include two lifeboat stations, with one open and one enclosed survival craft of the type used on tankers. The lifeboats will be launched from gravity davits.
     The site will also include two fast rescue boats (FRBs), a single-point davit for launching and recovering FRBs, and a davit-launchable liferaft. Classrooms, offices, storage space, and a workshop building will be included.
     Courses will provide STCW-mandated training leading to "proficiency in survival craft" endorsements for officers who began service after Aug. 1, 1998 and fast rescue boat proficiency for individuals designated as FRB crew members.
     "This waterfront center will bring even more dimension to AMO's training and certification programs, already acknowledged as the best in the industry anywhere in the world," said McKay. "It reflects our continuing commitment to AMO members, who will have access to everything they need to complete STCW certification. This new project also underscores our commitment to enhanced safety at sea."
     Joining McKay at the groundbreaking were: AMO National Secretary-Treasurer Robert W. McKay; AMO National Executive Vice President Jerome E. Joseph; AMO National Vice President (Deep-Sea) Thomas E. Kelly, AMO National Vice President At Large Ed Kelly; AMO National Assistant Vice President At Large Thomas J. Bethel; AMO National Executive Board Members Joseph Z. Gremelsbacker (Deep-Sea) and Richard M. LeClaire (At Large).
     Also present were: Tom Johnson, director of training at AMO's Raymond T. McKay Center for Advanced Maritime Officers' Training and RTM Simulation Training, Assessment and Research Centers in Dania Beach and Toledo; Jerry Pannell, deck department director at CAMOT/STAR; and delegations from the U.S. Coast Guard, American Red Cross, American Merchant Marine Veterans, and CAMOT/STAR faculty.

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