Tuesday, November 14, 2017 was a beautiful day in South Louisiana for The Benny Cenac Towing Company  and a local community college.  The organizations dedicated a fully refurbished barge for their workforce training program. The South Louisiana Community College staff, Cenac Marine Services, and some key public dignitaries participated in the event.  This article talks about the unique celebration that took place  for the workforce training program.

The Benny Cenac Towing Company, Cenac Marine Services, has held many vessel dedications over the years. However, this event was unlike any other.  This time, they were honored to have donated the fully refurbished barge to South Louisiana Community College’s Workforce Development Training program in a ceremony held at the Cenac headquarters.

Jermaine Ford, SLCC’s associate vice president for economic and workforce development said in a prepared statement, “When partners like Cenac Marine Services make an equipment donation like this reconditioned barge, they are directly contributing to a well-qualified workforce in our region. This barge will be a classroom for our students and is a learning environment that is second-to-none in providing real-world experience. Our students will be better prepared to tackle jobs in the oil and gas industry because of this partnership and this donation.”

The very first open enrollment class began in August 2018. Depending on the size of the class, hands-on barge training can last approximately eight hours. The goal of the South Louisiana Community College and their Maritime training program is to offer the class every two weeks, dependent on instructor availability. The school is currently utilizing two Cenac Marine Boat Captains as tankerman instructors during their off time.  The Cenac Towing instructors have been certified through the state of Louisiana to teach the course. It takes a total of 32 hours to complete the course. After completion of the course, the students are then required to complete basic firefighting training before they can obtain a tankerman certification.

“Terrebonne Parish is and always will be near and dear to our hearts here at Cenac as our birthplace,” Benny Cenac said in a prepared statement. “This company will always invest in continuing to produce the best marine personnel in the business. This also assists in making training more readily available to the area. We are all for supporting maritime education, especially so close to home.”

The barge, which replicates a standard Cenac Marine Services tank barge is currently located in Munson Slip in Houma, LA. The SLCC tankerman training is being held at the location. People interested in taking the class can register on site at the school’s Maritime and Corporate Training Center located at 331 Dickson Road in Houma, LA. Captain Carl Moore, Assistant Dean of Marine Operations said, “The barge donated by Mr. Cenac and Cenac Marine services has been a game changer.  We’re excited to be able to offer hands on, real life experience while under the supervision of an instructor. This will help everyone in a way we just haven’t been able to in the past.”

To learn more about South Louisiana Community College and its Maritime training offerings, please visit, http://www.solacc.edu. More information on this inaugural class was featured on Workboat’s website and on our blog as well. To read about the barge dedication that took place in 2017 please see this article.