The pause of the US Merchant Marine Academy’s at-sea training programme has become the second full-on stand-down in a decade, the head of the university’s alumni group said.
James Tobin, the chief executive and president of the US Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Association and Foundation, said the safety processes put in place following rape allegations made by an unnamed cadet last autumn are a “non-starter” and that students at the university have not yet returned to sea.
“I am frustrated to report that as of my most recent meeting on Jan. 21 that this interruption in placing our cadets on commercial vessels is not in fact a pause, but has become a stand down entering its fourth month,” Tobin wrote in a post published on the association’s website.
He attributed the shut down to the Maritime Administration’s “embrace of a bureaucratic approach, called EMBARC, that has gone nowhere to date”.
EMBARC, which stands for Every Mainer Builds a Respectful Culture was announced in December. It followed the postponement of Sea Year, where sophomores and juniors are placed on US-flagged commercial ships to gain sailing experience, in November.
The move was prompted by an anonymous blog post from an academy student known as Midshipman X, who detailed her alleged rape aboard a Maersk Line Ltd ship by an engineer.
The pause was expected to be shorter than the nine-month-long stand down in 2016, which was also prompted by allegations of sexual assault.
But Tobin said academy students are still held back from returning to commercial vessels even as students at the six state-run academies are heading to sea.
‘Unworkable’ standards
He said the EMBARC standards, which among other things require vessel operators to designate a sexual misconduct contact on board and account for master keys, are unworkable.
“Our position has been, and continues to be, that if commercial shipping is safe for one group of cadets, it is safe for ALL cadets,” Tobin said, adding that his organisation was working with legislators to try and get Sea Year restarted.
A MarAd spokesperson told TradeWinds that the agency, the Department of Transportation and the academy are committed to combatting sexual assault and barriers to reporting.
“This commitment includes fostering a maritime culture that is built upon safety, respect, and inclusion,” the spokesperson said.
“While carrier enrollment in the EMBARC program progresses, we have worked to provide at-sea training days to cadets on a wide range of government vessels and training ships.”
