With JAG Marine Group needing to fill a long list of jobs if it develops a shipyard at the 6-Mile Mill industrial site, community leaders are exploring new vocational training pathways to prepare high school students and other residents for marine industrial trades.

JAG Marine Group, which operates shipyards in Seward and Ketchikan, has partnered with the borough to evaluate the 42-acre former mill property on Zimovia Highway. Long-range plans envision transforming the waterfront site into a commercial marine center capable of heavy fabrication, vessel maintenance and repair services for large commercial and government ships.

Economic Development Director Kate Thomas said discussions are underway to connect students and school district faculty with established regional vocational programs, addressing an anticipated demand for skilled trades if waterfront development plans move forward.

Thomas recently met with Charles Edwardson, director of Generation Southeast Community Learning Center, a vocational training division operated by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska on Prince of Wales Island. Generation Southeast employs an experienced welding instructor whose background includes commercial shipyard repairs.

According to Thomas, feedback from that program indicates standard vocational welding courses do not fully prepare students for the physical demands and safety protocols of marine repair. A traditional shop class focuses on bench welding in a controlled setting, whereas maritime repair requires working in tight quarters, overhead welding and extensive preparation.

“The majority of your day isn’t necessarily spent welding,” she said. “It’s all the preparation and the takedown that leads up to and takes away from the finished product.”

Preparation for marine repair work includes rigging scaffolding, operating forklifts, managing hazardous waste materials and understanding industrial fire suppression. To bridge that gap, she said organizers want to expand traditional welding instruction into what she described as a “shipyard boot camp.”

To begin the process, she said plans are being formed to host a public gathering in Wrangell. The event would bring Edwardson and his welding instructor to town, alongside leadership from the state’s Alaska Vocational Technical Center, known as AVTEC, based in Seward. The session would serve as a public planning meeting and introduce technical school representatives to high school students and staff.

A major hurdle facing voc ed expansion across Alaska remains a shortage of qualified trades instructors, she said. Skilled industrial workers often earn far more in the commercial sector than public educational programs can pay.

To resolve that barrier, the Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District is seeking a federal Economic Development Administration grant to build a regional workforce initiative, Thomas said. Under the proposed model, grant funding would subsidize a sabbatical program in partnership with AVTEC. The funds would supplement wages for professional tradespeople, allowing them to step away from private industry for a year to teach high school and adult students without taking a pay cut.

Thomas noted that long-term efforts center on three primary objectives: Hosting a collaborative planning event in Wrangell, partnering directly with Generation Southeast, and supporting statewide initiatives that build instructional capacity.

The initiatives are proposed as an alternative to recruiting skilled labor from outside the region.