WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5) announced $1 million in funding from Department of Transportation (DOT) for the California Maritime Academy based in Vallejo, California.

The funding will help ensure well-educated and highly skilled U.S. Merchant Marine officers are available to meet our nation’s national security and economic needs.

“This important funding will help Cal Maritime prepare brave Merchant Marines for the challenges they will face,” said Thompson. “This is exactly the kind of investment our government should be making. We’re recycling obsolete ships and using the funding to prepare our next generation of maritime professionals.”

The funding came from the sale of obsolete vessels from the Maritime Administration’s National Defense Reserve Fleet, which were purchased for recycling.

As required by the National Maritime Heritage Act, 25 percent of the profit from sales is distributed to maritime academies for facility and training ship maintenance, repair, and modernization, and for the purchase of simulators and fuel; 25 percent is provided to the National Park Service, which provides grants for maritime heritage activities through the National Maritime Heritage Grants Program; and 50 percent funds the acquisition, maintenance, and repair of vessels in the National Defense Reserve Fleet.

The nation’s maritime academies train young men and women for service in the American merchant marine, the U.S. Armed Forces, and the Nation’s intermodal transportation system.

Since 2009, the Maritime Administration has provided more than $8.9 million in funding generated from vessel sales to the state academies and the United States Merchant Marine Academy.

The Maritime Administration promotes a strong U.S. commercial maritime industry through effective training and education of the men and women who will join its ranks upon graduation.

The agency supports maritime academies through direct funding and also provides scholarships through a student incentive payment program to a select number of state maritime academy students who commit to a post-graduation service obligation.

The Maritime Administration also provides training vessels to all six state maritime academies for use in at-sea training and as shore side maritime skills and proficiency laboratories.

Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.