SCI Launches New Chapter In Maritime Training

January 19, 2015
THE WATERWAYS JOURNAL
SEVEN
SCI Launches New Chapter In Maritime Training
Just as towing companies often have to
perform major updates, upgrades and repowerings to their marine equipment, so,
too, do maritime training facilities.
The Seamen’s Church Institute recently unveiled a complete refurbishment of its Center for Maritime Education in Paducah, Ky. The top-to-bottom
upgrades were on display at a dedication
ceremony December 10, 2014, the day
before the 15th annual River Bell Awards
ceremony.
SCI’s Center for Maritime Education
leaders spent 15 months conducting a
comprehensive review to gut and rebuild
the institute’s training facilities. After a
full-scope review, SCI signed a contract
with Kongsberg Maritime to upgrade its
Paducah facility with state-of-the-art simulation equipment.
Paducah-based company Ray Black
& Son managed local facility construction, which accompanied a host of
transformations to the center’s physical plant, including new classrooms,
debriefing zones, upgraded hospitality
areas, a new visitor’s entrance and conference center.
On-site implementation began in August, with SCI flipping the switch at the
December 10 ceremony.
Simulator Upgrades
The upgrades to SCI’s Paducah simulators include 23 new vessel models,
hardware and software improvements,
added visual capacity, and new steering
and throttle systems.
The new simulator harnesses Z-drive
technology and, with enhanced pilothouse geometry, allows for close-quarter
maneuvering.
When combined with the flat panel LED visual technology, the new fullmission bridge simulators bring a realism
that can fool even the most seasoned mariner into believing he or she is piloting an
actual vessel.
Jill Flowers takes the sticks in the Jill P. Flowers Pilothouse simulator.
—photos by Brad Rankin
Industry Support
SCI sought the support of maritime
industry partners to finance the enhanceSee SCI Page 8
Les Grimm and Bruce Paulsen in mv. Craig E. Philip.
Keith and Melissa Lay, Cindy Harter and Phyllis Boyd.
Dave Hammond Sr.: Living A Life, Building A Company And Leaving A Legacy On The River
By Pat Crowley and Nancy Van Epps
Dave Hammond Sr. wasn’t created by Mark Twain,
but he certainly could have been.
He was raised in a housing project near the confluence
of the Ohio and Licking rivers in Northern Kentucky;
Hammond’s steelworker father spent much time away
from home. His mother was killed in a car accident when
he was just five years old. To make a few bucks as a child
he shined shoes along Newport’s racy Monmouth Street.
It was an early life of challenges and difficult change,
but there was always one constant in the young man’s
life: the river. It served as a beacon of stability and eventually opportunity that led not just to a career but to the
satisfaction and pride that comes from building a familyowned company that is still going strong after 26 years.
For Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, it was the mighty
Mississippi. For Hammond, it was the Ohio; the winding
band of muddy water that provided wonder, adventure,
excitement, employment and ultimately Inland Marine
Service (IMS), a vessel management company he and
his wife, Cathy, have built into a thriving 700-employee
business based in Hebron, Ky., near Cincinnati.
“They say on the river, if you stay in long enough to
wear out a pair of boots, you are in it forever,” said Hammond. “You just grow to love it.”
Hammond’s devotion to the river and to the people
who make a living on it will forever be remembered in
a place that promotes the safety, dignity and improved
working environment for the maritime industry —The
Seamen’s Church Institute’s Center for Marine Education in Paducah, Ky. A refurbished classroom was being
dedicated in honor of Dave Hammond Sr. (See related
story in this issue.)
For more than a quarter century, Dave and Cathy
Hammond have operated and grown a successful company doing what they love. The Hammonds have a reputation for being advocates for mariners.
“I’ve worked for companies that didn’t know my
name,” said IMS Capt. Larry Gwin. “I was just a number
to them. I think at least your manager should know you
by name, don’t you?
“Well, Cathy Hammond just got off my boat,” Gwin
said. “Where else can you work where the CEO of the
company takes the time to listen to you and talk to you
on your boat?”
Deckhand Ed Hall immediately recognized the distinct culture when he joined IMS four years ago. “I’ve
lived a hard life, but I was raised to be a hard worker.
Working for IMS makes me feel special like I am a part
of something. They respect my opinion. I feel like my input is heard.”
Dave Hammond Jr., now president of IMS, said his
mom and dad took a lot of pride in building and running
a family business that treats everyone like family.
“The way they look at it, their family has grown to
700,” Dave Jr. said of his parents. “Everybody who works
here is part of a family, and they know it. That’s the tradition, that’s the practice, that’s how we always have and
always will do business.”
Dave Sr. said he and his wife would never have been
able to grow the business “without good people.”
“I have been lucky enough to have really good people
working on my boats and good people attract other good
people,” he said. “You can build a nice career in this industry if you are a hard worker.”
See HAMMOND Page 10
EIGHT
THE WATERWAYS JOURNAL
January 19, 2015
SCI
(CONTINUeD FROM PAge 7)
ments to the Paducah center. Individuals
and representatives from many of these
companies attended the official dedication in December.
The Rt. Rev. Andrew M.L. Dietsche,
Bishop of New York, blessed the four
named pilothouses (mv. Capt. O. Nelson
Jones, mv. Jill P. Flowers, mv. Mark K.
Knoy, and mv. Craig E. Philip), the Buck
and Helen Lay Lobby, the Capt. David E.
Hammond Classroom and the James Marine Control Room. Demonstrations of
the technology followed, with the namesake of each pilothouse making the maiden voyages.
Maritime scenes, shot by photographer Gregory Thorp, garnished the walls
of each new room.
SCI has begun a new year of training
in the remodeled center and anticipates
training close to 1,000 professional mariners in 2015.
“This renovation and refurbishment outfits mariners with resources
to achieve the highest levels of professional performance,” said Capt. Stephen
Polk, director of maritime education and
training at SCI.
SCI thanked the following benefactors for supporting the technology and infrastructure upgrades: Ingram
Marine Group, Richard King Mellon
Foundation, J. Russell and Jill P. Flowers, the Ray and Kay Eckstein Charitable Trust, John and Loree Eckstein,
AEP River Operations, the Lay family, American Commercial Lines, Am-
Charles Jones in the Capt. O. Nelson Jones pilothouse simulator.
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January 19, 2015
THE WATERWAYS JOURNAL
NINE
Above: Mark Knoy and Garland Hardy in mv. Mark K. Knoy pilothouse simulator. Above right: the Rev. David Rider. Right: Bob and Deidre Littlefield in
front of propeller donated by James Marine.
herst Madison, Crounse Corporation,
Inland Marine Service, James Marine,
Petter Supply and friends of Terence
“Tuna” Gomez Jr.
About SCI
Founded in 1834 and affiliated with
the Episcopal Church—though nondenominational in terms of its trustees, staff
and service to mariners—the Seamen’s
Church Institute of New York & New Jersey (SCI) is the largest, most comprehensive mariners’ agency in North America.
Its chaplains visit thousands of vessels in
the Port of New York and New Jersey, the
Port of Oakland, and along 2,200 miles of
America’s inland waterways and into the
Gulf of Mexico.
SCI’s maritime education facilities
provide navigational training to nearly
1,600 mariners each year through simulator-based facilities located in Houston, Texas, and Paducah, Ky. The institute and its maritime attorneys are
recognized as leading advocates for
merchant mariners by the U.S. government, the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization, the
International Labor Organization and
maritime trade associations.
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THE WATERWAYS JOURNAL
January 19, 2015
Hammond
(CONTINUeD FROM PAge 7)
Added Cathy Hammond, “We empower our people and we stand behind
their decisions. There’s no running the
boat from the office.”
“We give our mariners the tools they
need to do their job more effectively. We
help them, but we do not tell them how to
do it,” said Dave Jr. “We appreciate what
they do.”
The Hammonds make sure that even
in the simplest and most subtle ways,
their employees know that their contributions and sacrifices are valued and the
IMS mariners know it. “The IMS office
tells us: you guys are our eyes and ears out
there,” says Gwin. “We are on the banks
to support you all.”
“At the IMS office, you get a loud and
clear view of who they think is most important as soon as you walk in the door,”
said Greg Brown, IMS Liquid Group
chief operating officer. “When I arrived
for the first time, I saw pictures of the
crew in the lobby, not headshots of leadership. Dave and Cathy built this company on a reputation for treating people
with respect and compassion.”
“The Hammonds are a great family
to a fault. They will do anything for you,”
said IMS Engineer Rich Davis.
Today as a professional vessel management company, IMS serves customers across the western rivers, East Coast
and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway providing crews of seasoned, highly-skilled
mariners, vessel maintenance and insurance coverage.
Dave Hammond Jr., Holly Hammond Crowe, Cathy Hammond and Dave Hammond Sr.
Grew Up On The River
Dave Sr. knows the river because he
grew up on the river. He was drawn to the
barges and towboats that flowed daily past
his neighborhood. By age 12, he was doing odd jobs for the river companies. As a
teenager, he worked as a deckhand. By 19,
he had worked as a pilot of a harbor tug
on the Ohio River and captain on line-haul perience already under his belt, Dave Sr.
towing vessels on the Mississippi River had a deep understanding of what it takes
System. Dave Sr. was the second youngest to work on the river. Working side by side
with Cathy, the young couple built a repcaptain in Midland Enterprises’ history.
In 1988, he was given the opportu- utation and a company known for integnity to operate a line-haul towboat un- rity, honesty and pride in the daily work
by IMS employees.
der
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TWELVE
THE WATERWAYS JOURNAL
January 19, 2015
Hammond
(CONTINUeD FROM PAge 10)
It wasn’t always easy.
“In the early days, there were times
when my parents wondered how they
would make payroll,” said Dave Hammond Jr. “But they always found a way.
When you think about it, this really is a
great American success story—a family-owned, family-grown business that
through hard work, dedication and commitment to customers and employees is
growing and thriving today.”
Training Support
The Hammonds’ and IMS’ commitment to mariners and the industry are exemplified in their partnership with Seamen’s Church Institute to improve the
technology and training programs at the
Center for Maritime Eduction in Paducah.
On December 10, SCI dedicated the
classroom of its education facility to Dave
Sr. In addition, a photograph of a towboat
in the galley by famed river photographer
Gregory Thorp was altered so that name of
the vessel now reads Cathy S. Hammond.
“It was only appropriate that a classroom
at SCI was named after David Hammond
Sr. because he was a teacher and mentor for
many years, training many young men and
women to become mariners,” said Dave Jr.
His father also helped hundreds become licensed mariners when he owned and operated the Greater Cincinnati License Preparation Center, Dave Jr. said.
“IMS has always made the safety of
our mariners one of our top priorities. We
have been sending our employees to SCI
IMS employees (with photographer Gregory Thorp, in front) in the Dave
Hammond Sr. Classroom.
for many years to use their vessel simulators for specialized training and to educate our team about safety rules and regulatory requirements.
“In addition to the value we receive
by sending our folks to SCI, the Seamen’s
Church also provides tremendous outreach to mariners, so we felt that it was
only appropriate that our company provide a significant contribution to this organization to honor my father.”
David Hammond Jr. said it is important for the maritime industry to not only
stay current with existing regulations but
to be proactive. “SCI provides the equipment and training to allow the industry to
be proactive and remain up to date about
future regulatory requirements,” he said.
“As our industry moves toward implementation of the new federal Subchapter
M regulations, it’s very important for us to
increase our training efforts and SCI will
play a big part in those efforts.”
Family Business
Dave Sr. and Cathy appreciate and respect the maritime industry and the opportunities it has provided their family,
their employees and everyone else who
works on the nation’s waterways.
“There was never any question that
my children would go into the business,”
he said. “They stayed with me on the
boats the whole summer one year; Holly was nine and Dave was 11. They spent
the summer on a commercial towboat.
You could never do that nowadays!”
Dave Jr. worked on the boats all
through high school. He was a deckhand
when he was 12.
“However, I wouldn’t let him work for
the company as an adult at first. He became a vice president with St. Paul Fire &
Marine Insurance in his 30s. By the time
he joined IMS, he had developed a skill
set that we desperately needed in administration and management.
“Holly earned a degree in court reporting and worked in administration at
Children’s Hospital. I’m very proud of
the fact that both of my children made it
on their own before joining the company.
It was a good decision as a parent and a
good business decision to insist that they
work on their own before joining IMS.”
The Hammonds know the river—and
the river life—because they are of the
river. There isn’t a job on the river that
Dave Sr. hasn’t done himself. He knows
what it’s like to serve with a crew, and he
and Cathy take great pride in training and
nurturing their employees.
“Where else can you go in the world
with a ninth-grade education and make
such a life?” he said. “It’s a tough business
because it takes you away from home. But
there are so many benefits.”
“River people are unique,” Dave Sr. continued. “They have this sense of freedom,
an independent spirt just the way Twain describes. They are adventurous. On the boat,
you have adventures every day. We still have
not tamed Mother Nature; it’s an enormous
test of skill and tenacity. I am honored to
have been a part of the river life.”
This article was written by By Pat
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January 19, 2015
THE WATERWAYS JOURNAL
FIFTY-FIVE
For more than 25 years, Inland Marine Service
has built a stellar reputation in the industry thanks
to our hard-working mariners of character. From
the Hammond family to our extended river family
of more than 700 employees, we commend your
loyalty and service.
Photo by Gregory Thorp
Home-Grown Heroes
PROF ESSI ONAL M ANAGEM ENT • PROF ES S IO NAL M ARINE RS
WJ Photo Page: IMS Partners With SCI For Training Upgrades
Dave Hammond Jr. and Sr., Cathy Hammond and Holly Hammond Crowe.
Cathy and Dave Hammond Sr.
Cathy and Dave Hammond Sr. in the early days of IMS.
Dave Hammond Sr. in namesake classroom.
Photos by Meredith Fossett
Cathy Hammond and the Rev. Kempton Baldridge.
Home-Grown Heroes
For hard-working mariners of character, Inland offers:
Honest pay
Apprenticeship program
Adventure and excitement of river culture
Extensive safety training
Friendly, accessible shore support
Photo by Gregory Thorp
“Most of us started working out here to provide the home that we all long for, for our wife and
children. Little beknownst to us, we would also have a family out here every bit as important. You
are working hard on the river together every day. You become a band of brothers. I still get calls
from former deckhands and other guys after their retirement.” - Captain Terry Bennefield
I N L A N D
M A R I N E
S E R V I C E
PR OF ESSIONA L MA NA GEMENT • P R O FE S S I O N A L MA R I N E R S