THE American Caribbean Maritime Foundation (ACMF) has taken its scholarship and grant application digital with an easy-to-use platform at https://apply.acmfdn.org/.

The site, which accepts applications from high school and tertiary level students from across the Caribbean, opened January 1, with a deadline of April 30 for all applications to be submitted.

“I think students will find the portal easy to use and the platform makes the application more accessible to students across the Caribbean,” said Dr Geneive Brown Metzger, president of the ACMF.

ACMF has funded full tuition and grants for approximately two hundred scholars and grantees in nine Caribbean countries, namely, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Suriname, St Lucia, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Guyana.

With the shipping industry beginning to look at non-traditional sources for talent, the Caribbean is starting to take its place among the United States, China, and the Philippines as a rich source of world-class talent for the cruise, cargo and the oil and gas sectors, including on and off-shore.

“Our focus is on professional positions,” said Juan Carlos Croston, vice-president, marketing and corporate affairs at Manzanillo International Terminal–Panama, who also serves as chair of the ACMF scholarship committee.

“ACMF scholars have demonstrated their talent and the world-class training they receive at our academic partners.”

The Caribbean is competitive in quality of training, diversity of skill sets, and geographic proximity for all workers in the industry. Jamaica alone churns out hundreds of officer-level talent annually, many with bachelor’s degrees in navigation and engineering. Additionally, the country potentially generates Standards of Training and Certification of Watchkeeping (STCW)-qualified and ratings candidates in the thousands.

ACMF donors include some of the biggest cruise and cargo brands such as Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line, and MSC Cruise. Cargo brands include Tropical Shipping, Seaboard Marine, Arawak Port Development, Dubai Port World, Seacor Island Marine and Crowley.

The ACMF is a US non-profit tax-exempt organisation, and is the only entity solely dedicated to sponsoring academic scholarships and grants to aspiring Caribbean and Caricom maritime professionals and seafarers. The foundation partners with five academic institutions within the Caricom: Caribbean Maritime University in Jamaica; LJM Maritime Academy in The Bahamas; MatPal Marine Institute and Atlantic Alliance Maritime and Off-Shore Training Institute both in Guyana; and the University of Trinidad and Tobago.