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A Stronger Talent Pipeline
Engage earlier with people preparing for maritime careers and help shape the skills, expectations, and professional habits that matter in the workplace.
The future of maritime depends on the people we prepare today.
America's maritime industry depends on skilled people across vessel operations, engineering, logistics, ports, shipbuilding, repair, technical trades, marine services, technology, and shoreside operations.
HLS Maritime Academy is being developed to help strengthen that workforce through accessible education, practical preparation, industry-recognized pathways, and meaningful exposure to the organizations that make the maritime economy work.
We do not believe workforce education should be developed in isolation from employers.
Industry should help shape the workforce it hopes to hire.
Why Partner With HLS
Workforce Development Should Create Value on Both Sides.
Partnership is not simply about supporting the Academy. It is about building stronger connections between the people preparing for maritime careers and the organizations that need capable, prepared, motivated talent.
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Closer Education-to-Industry Alignment
Help reduce the distance between what students learn and what employers actually need by contributing real operational perspective to workforce preparation.
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Greater Career Visibility
Introduce students to occupations, companies, technologies, and career paths they may never have known existed without direct industry exposure.
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Workforce Access
Build relationships with a broader pool of future workers, including people who may historically have had limited access to maritime career networks.
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Community & Industry Impact
Support workforce development in a way that can strengthen employers, families, communities, regional economies, and America's maritime capability.
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A Seat at the Table
Partners can help HLS understand changing workforce conditions, emerging technologies, credential needs, operational priorities, and where new opportunities are developing.
Partnership Opportunities
There Is More Than One Way to Work Together.
Every organization brings different strengths. Partnership with HLS may involve workforce expertise, student opportunity, technical resources, employment pathways, operational support, or long-term strategic collaboration.
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Workforce Development
Help shape training pathways around the knowledge, professionalism, technical ability, and workforce readiness maritime employers actually need.
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Internships & Work-Based Learning
Create opportunities for students to gain meaningful workplace exposure while employers begin developing relationships with future maritime talent.
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Apprenticeships & Career Pathways
Explore structured pathways that connect education, practical experience, industry credentials, and long-term employment opportunities.
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Curriculum & Industry Input
Share operational knowledge, emerging workforce needs, technology trends, and employer expectations that can help keep HLS programs connected to the realities of the industry.
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Mentorship & Professional Exposure
Give future maritime professionals access to experienced people who can provide perspective, career guidance, technical insight, and a clearer understanding of the industry.
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Equipment & Technical Resources
Strengthen hands-on learning through appropriate equipment, machinery, tools, technology, training materials, and other technical resources.
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In-Kind & Operational Support
Companies may be able to contribute products, supplies, services, transportation, logistics, technology, furnishings, materials, and other resources that support students and Academy operations.
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Strategic Collaboration
Work alongside HLS on longer-term initiatives that strengthen workforce access, maritime readiness, regional economic opportunity, and the industry's future talent pipeline.
Employer Partnership
Help Prepare the People You May One Day Hire.
Employers understand the workplace in ways a classroom alone cannot.
Your organization knows where skills gaps exist, which habits distinguish strong employees, which technologies are changing the work, and what new hires often need to learn after they arrive.
That knowledge can help HLS prepare students more effectively and help employers build stronger relationships with emerging talent before the hiring process begins.
A stronger connection between education and employment can benefit the student, the employer, and the maritime industry at the same time.
The Maritime Ecosystem
Partnership Across the Industry.
Maritime workforce development reaches far beyond ships themselves. HLS welcomes conversations across the broader network of organizations that keep maritime commerce, transportation, infrastructure, and operations moving.
Vessel Operators & Shipping Companies
Ports & Marine Terminals
Shipyards & Repair Facilities
Marine Engineering & Technical Services
Marine Manufacturers & Suppliers
Logistics & Transportation Companies
Maritime Technology Companies
Government & Public Agencies
Workforce Development Organizations
Colleges, Schools & Training Organizations
Industry Associations
Foundations & Community Organizations
Resources Can Become Opportunity
Partnership Does Not Always Require a Check.
Equipment, technical expertise, surplus inventory, professional services, transportation, training materials, technology, mentorship, workplace exposure, and other resources may all have meaningful value to the mission.
How Partnership Begins
Start With a Conversation.
A partnership does not need to be completely designed before reaching out. The first step is simply understanding where our interests and capabilities may align.
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Start a Conversation
Tell us about your organization, workforce needs, capabilities, and the type of involvement you may be interested in exploring.
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Identify Shared Priorities
We look for areas where the needs of students, employers, the maritime industry, and the Academy may meaningfully intersect.
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Design the Right Partnership
Collaboration may involve workforce input, mentorship, work-based learning, equipment, in-kind support, recruiting relationships, technical expertise, or another mission-aligned approach.
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Create Opportunity
The goal is practical: build stronger connections between people preparing for maritime careers and the organizations that need their talent.
A Founding Opportunity
The Best Time to Help Shape a Workforce Program Is While It Is Being Built.
HLS Maritime Academy is still in its formative stage. That means early partners have an unusual opportunity to contribute perspective, identify workforce priorities, help create meaningful student experiences, and strengthen the connection between the Academy and the industry it exists to serve.
We want to build with industry, not simply present industry with the finished product.
“A workforce pipeline becomes stronger when the people preparing talent and the people hiring talent build it together.”
Partnership
Let's Build the Workforce Together
Whether you are an employer, port, shipyard, maritime company, manufacturer, supplier, public agency, educator, foundation, workforce organization, or community partner, we welcome the opportunity to explore what we may be able to build together.