About 8 years ago, the Pacific Coast Congress of Harbormasters and Port Managers began to discuss ways that they could increase the knowledge, skills and professionalism of employees of their harbours.  The president at that time, Ray Majeski, was the harbormaster in Sitka, Alaska so he turned to the local campus, University of Alaska Southeast, Sitka to investigate training opportunities for harbor employees.

The timing couldn't have been more perfect.  The Sitka Campus was applying for a grant which provided the opportunity to develop online courses at a non-academic level.  The courses were developed in close partnership with the Pacific Coast Congress of Harbormasters and Port Managers, the Alaska Association of Harbormasters and Port Administrators, the Harbour Authority Association of British Columbia, and Washington Sea Grant.  Drawing from these professional organizations, UAS partnered content experts with instructional designers.  The content experts were expert in the fields of Oil Spill Prevention, Fire Safety for Marinas, and other topics related to Harbor Management.  The instructional designers were expert in how to develop an engaging effective online course, but relied completely on the professionals to provide the content.  An education committee from PCC provided the initial direction for UAS to take and ensured that the result would be the kind of quality that would truly support the industry.

Ten courses now comprise the Career Training for Ports and Marinas program. PCC provides certificates at 3 levels.  Complete any 3 courses of your choice for Level 1 Certification, another 3 courses of your choices for Level 2 Certification, and the last 4 courses for Level 3 certification. The courses are:

1.      Marine Structures and Materials

2.      Facility Safety

3.      Oil Spills: Prevention, Preparedness and Response

4.      Fire Safety for Ports and Marinas

5.      Customer Service for Ports and Marinas

6.      Marina Utilities: Electrical Systems

7.      Marina Utilities: Water and Sanitary Sewer

8.      Hazardous Materials and Waste: Risks and Controls

9.      Harbor Operations and Planning

10.  Harbor Administration

All of the courses are offered online.  They take approximately 12-15 hours of actual work, but students are given 3 months to complete them.  Clear navigation instructions and tutorials are provided when students begin, so that even if they've never taken an online course before, they quickly learn how easy it is.  Content material is provided through text and pictures or audio lectures accompanied by notes; there are interactive self-check activities, and sometimes a short written account of an actual walk-about the harbor.  Students are in touch with the instructors for the courses by email.  Instructors are Shannon Kinsella, Ray Majeski, Larry Boyer, Alan Sorum, Eric Olsson, John Lewis and David Garrett.  All instructors are professionals in the field of harbor management.