VANCOUVER, Wash. - Behind a small beige building at the Port of Vancouver, high school students are learning the tools of the maritime trade as Cascadia Tech Academy's Maritime Technology program begins its second year, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

About 30 students from high schools across Clark County are enrolled in the program, part of Evergreen Public Schools, which aims to give students a clear path from graduation to well-paying trade jobs in commercial shipping, port logistics, offshore energy and most anything involving the ocean.

The year-old program is gaining traction at a critical time. Fewer than a third of last year's college graduates secured full-time work related to their degrees, according to the research group Cengage, while a 2026 Seafarer Workforce report predicts the global shipping industry will need an additional 113,735 officers by 2030 to operate the world merchant fleet.

Many of the jobs are close to home. Washington has the largest locally controlled public port system in the country, with 75 port districts, including three in Clark County.

Ann Avary, director of the Northwest Center of Excellence for Marine Manufacturing and Technology, told OPB the maritime field is struggling to fill the growing gap in its workforce. On a pain scale of one to 10, she said, the state of the industry's workforce is at an eight or nine, driven by an expanding global merchant fleet and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The White House took note in February, releasing a Maritime Action Plan aimed at rebuilding the country's ship-building capacity.

Instructor Colton Edmiston said about 10 students from the program's first graduating class have already gone straight into industry employment, most of them working for local launch services that run supplies from shore to ships and tugboats. One student was hired by Portland-based tugboat company Shaver Transportation. "I mean, the student will be earning more than I do probably within a year," Edmiston said.

In Washington, the annual mean wage in 2025 for sailors and welders was about $68,000, according to state employment data, and $113,450 for ship engineers. Second-year student Caleb Owens, 17, said the pay and the strong odds of landing a job right out of high school were a big draw after a summer of job applications that went nowhere, and he already has a prospect lined up with a local boarding agent for when he turns 18.