About STAR Center
STAR Center is a not-for-profit (501 (c) (3)) division of the Safety & Education Plan of American Maritime Officers (AMO), the largest maritime labor organization for licensed merchant mariners in the USA. A multi-employer benefit Taft-Hartley trust comprising deck and engine officers serving in the deep sea, Great Lakes and Inland Waters. The primary mission of STAR Center is to train the men and women of AMO, insuring that they are ready in all respects to meet the requirements of the contracted companies and to assist in raise-of-grade and certain professional development training of the active participants of the trust. The school is also the top choice of inland and ocean going professional mariners throughout the world, who are trained at the school on a space available basis as allowed by the Plan rules.
Opening in 1983 in Toledo, Ohio, we expanded to our current location in Dania Beach, Florida (just south of Fort Lauderdale) in 1986. After extensive facility improvements, we opened for business in 1993 with one of the world's first 360 degree field of view Full Mission bridge simulators. A second full mission bridge simulator featuring a 270 degree field of view, as well as full mission engine room and liquid cargo simulators, were also installed. Together, they offer the most technologically complex maritime simulation training available anywhere in the world. The full list of simulators is shown below:
- A 360° Full Mission bridge
- A 270° Full Mission bridge
- Welding Lab
- Machine Shop / Diesel Lab
- Dynamic Positioning simulators, Nautical Institute approved.
- Our full mission engine room simulator
- Our onsite Firefighting Training Unit
- Our waterfront facility
- Kongsberg "Neptune" Liquid Cargo simulator
- MPRI (L3) LNG Simulator / GTT LNG Bunkering Simulator
- Radar/ARPA simulators
- Transas ECDIS simulation featuring Transas Navi-Sailor 4000 software.
- GMDSS simulation featuring Poseidon software
We continue to invest to insure that our simulation, training, assessment and research remain among the top in the world. In 2016 we installed a new Kongsberg Full Mission Engine Simulator that can depict a choice of four (4) propulsion plants: MC90 slow speed diesel; Diesel Electric; RT-Flex and M-11 medium speed diesel.
We offer among the most U.S. Coast Guard and other approved courses and programs of any maritime training center. These courses meet USCG, STCW, SIGTTO, Military Sealift Command and IMO Model requirements, as well as many additional courses designed by our in-house Project Development team to meet industry best practices and company-specific training requirements.
Suppliers of STAR Center's advanced technologies include Kongsberg Digital Simulation Incorporated (KDI), Electric Picture, Transas® ECDIS, L3-MPRI, Poseidon® GMDSS.
STAR Center is also proud of the reputation it has gained throughout the worldwide maritime community, while focused on our primary mission of meeting the training needs of our AMO members, applicants and contracted companies. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality instruction at the most competitive prices to our commercial customers, including marine pilots. Our courses and programs can be tailored to your individual needs and fully integrated to ISM and company policies.
STAR Center also features in-house modeling capabilities for port development, ship response models, research, and forensic maritime studies. We can model a vessel prior to delivery and train personnel in bridge and engine room familiarization and training.
STAR Center supports the ongoing military to mariner (M2M) initiative within the maritime industry by providing opportunities to qualified veterans and support of Executive Order 13860 issued on March 4, 2019 which streamlines the military to mariner transition. Appropriate courses and programs are approved by the State of Florida Department of Veterans Affairs, Bureau of State Approving for Veterans’ Training. In doing so STAR provides a pathway for those transitioning out of the military who wish to pursue a career afloat.
STAR Center is an ISO 9001:2015 Quality Certified Organization by ABS Quality Evaluations
STAR Center's The Engineer Candidate Hawsepipe (TECH) engineer apprentice program was recognized as a Lloyds List America Awards 2018 Safety Initiative finalist.