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SCI Center for Maritime Education (SCI CME) - Mariners Professional Training Programs

Online, Simulator, USCG and Other Comprehensive Maritime Training Programs in Kentucky (Paducah) & Texas (Houston)

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The Seamen’s Church Institute Center for Maritime Education (SCI CME) provides professional advancement opportunities through SCI-developed and USCG-approved courses. Instructors train mariners utilizing expertise in adult education principles and the latest computer simulation technology. CME is the first maritime training center in the United States to receive ISO 9001 certification.

SCI has more than 20 years of multi-bridge interactive simulation experience. The simulators enable companies to exceed requirements for United States Coast Guard (USCG), American Waterways Operators (AWO), SIRE inspections and TMSA vetting for professional training and mariner assessments. SCI’s simulators house full-mission bridges, type-approved domestically by the USCG and class-approved by classification societies such as ABS and DNV.

The Center for Maritime Education in Paducah, KY trains over 1,000 mariners each year and located at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers. The facilities include some of the world’s most sophisticated computer equipment, fire field; a fire fighting Simulator constructed using the top portion of a towboat. SCI administers the only specifically designed program to teach crucial Firefighting skills to mariners who work on the inland rivers. SCI’s Center for Maritime Education in Houston TX trains more than 600 mariners.

SCI’s online course ads effective, proven tactics in online learning to help maritime industry employees prevent injuries and accidents at work. SCI supplements its traditional classroom offerings in Paducah, KY and Houston, TX with opportunities available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. SCI also provides professional engineering and research services, cost-effectively uncovering the strengths and weaknesses of proposed new ventures.

sci maritime center

Training Programs

USCG Courses

Bridge Resource Management (BRM) (3 days): BRM is a 3-day, USCG-approved course with assessment
Advanced Pilothouse Management (APM): APM includes similar topics to BRM course (see above), and may include new material developed by the company.
Towing Officer Assessment Program (TOAP) (1 week): For Western Rivers and Near Coastal (CME Houston only)
Individual Aptitude Assessments (1 day): This course is in private simulator suite with close-quarter maneuvering capability and recognized by USCG for TOAR
Mate/Steersman Course (2 weeks): Combination of simulator training and classroom sessions.
Radar Renewal: CME offers USCG-approved Radar renewal classes (all grades).
BRM/APM Alumni e-learning
HSE e-learning (Health Safety and Environment)
Rose Point Electronic Charting System
Towing Officer Assessment Program (TOAP)
Personalized Online Training

LAST UPDATED ON Jul 23, 2023

SCI History of Training

sci cme history

The Navigational School at SCI had informal beginnings in 1899. In December of that year, Navy Commander W. H. Reeder wrote to J. Augustus Johnson, serving as Chairman of SCI’s Committee on Navigation. The letter contained a list of materials needed for a teaching ship at SCI. The list included grummets, 100 pounds of hemp rope for knotting, 25 pounds of hambroline and stopping blocks.

In 1906, the still informal Navigational School met in one room, probably at the Institute’s headquarters at One State Street. In 1914, the School partnered with the ailing New York Nautical College and YMCA. By 1916, the partnership between the YMCA and SCI was dissolved. The Navigational School reorganized and opened as the Navigational and Marine Engineering School of the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York.

After reorganization, Captain Robert Huntington, a retired sea captain, came to teach at SCI. As the United States was on the brink of entering World War I, Huntington advertised the school heavily, and SCI trained 15,000 men during that time.

SCI founded the school not only to educate those who wished to go to sea but also to give them opportunity for advancement. Instructors at the Navigation School taught practical subjects on a real vessel.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, applications from officers desiring to return to the Merchant Marine service flooded the Navigation School. A 74-foot ship’s pilot house and flying bridge was installed on the roof of 25 South Street. At 212 feet above street level, SCI billed it as the highest navigation bridge in the world.

After the wars, the shipping industry began to change swiftly. SCI and the Merchant Marine School changed with it.

Source: SCI