BRONX, N.Y. — The Empire State VII, the training ship operated by SUNY Maritime College, will sail this summer from the Bronx with hundreds of cadets aboard logging sea time toward their U.S. Coast Guard licenses. The 530-foot, nine-deck vessel was purposely built to train cadets at the college, one of six state-run maritime academies in the country.

Each SUNY Maritime College student is required to complete three summer sea terms to accumulate the 360 days of sea time required to sit for the U.S. Coast Guard license. Cadets take between 18 and 24 credits each semester and describe their course load as a double major combining traditional engineering or operations classes with all Coast Guard-required licensing coursework. Students pursue either a track focused on ship systems and engine room operations or a track focused on seamanship and maritime shipping. Most state-run maritime academies are run like quasi-military academies, with students wearing uniforms, following regimented schedules, and completing both engineering and seamanship coursework alongside Coast Guard licensing classes.

The training program feeds graduates into a labor market with roughly 8,000 open positions across the U.S. maritime sector, more than 5,000 of them with the Military Sealift Command. Starting salaries for entry-level merchant marine officers exceed $100,000, while Military Sealift Command starting salaries can exceed $170,000, with signing bonuses of up to $54,000 offered for a three-year contract. Job opportunities for licensed mariners include cargo ships, oil tankers, private-sector roles, and government work supplying U.S. Navy ships.

The Trump administration unveiled the Maritime Action Plan in February, aimed at growing the pipeline of licensed mariners to meet industry demand. Without enough supply ships operating in the Persian Gulf, some U.S. Navy vessels near the Strait of Hormuz could exhaust their provisions in as few as five days. Military Sealift Command ships sometimes operate for months at a stretch and venture into conflict zones, and videos posted on social media show missiles flying over the Persian Gulf. "That also makes us heavy targets, because the enemy knows just as well how valuable and how important these supply ships are to our active-duty Navy vessels," graduating senior Finn Mahan said.

Maxwell Cappella, who graduated from SUNY Maritime College in 2025, recently completed a four-month cruise as a third assistant engineer on a non-Military Sealift Command federal contract ship. On that cruise, he and a crew of five other engineers managed the engine room and all mechanical systems. While at sea, Cappella had almost no personal expenses, including commuting, meals, and housing. Work below deck involves 12 hours on and 12 hours off, seven days a week without interruption, even on holidays.