£2.5m Port of Liverpool academy to boost Merseyside maritime skills

Bootle-based Hugh Baird College and its partners have officially opened the new multi-million pound maritime training facility at the Port of Liverpool.

The £2.5m Port Academy Liverpool (PAL) will offer technical, training, academic and enrichment courses for people aged 14 and above who are looking to embark on a career in the maritime sector.

PAL courses will be divided into the sub-brands of onshore, offshore and onboard for both the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy, offering career prospects ranging from marine engineering to cruise liner hospitality.

The centre’s first students will begin their courses this September.

Shulah Jones, PAL’s head of business strategy and project director, said: “The opening of Port Academy Liverpool is a great day for not only Bootle, but the whole of Liverpool and Merseyside.

“This is also a far-reaching initiative which will benefit the entire UK’s maritime sector.”

She added: “Our aspiration, supported by our maritime partners, is that Port Academy Liverpool will become a beacon of educational excellence, providing first-class academic and technical training from the ages of 14 years to adulthood.”

The location of the academy at the Port of Liverpool was the homeport for Capt Johnnie Walker, the Royal Navy officer famed for his exploits during the Second World War.

The historic link was celebrated by presence of Johnnie Walker’s grandson Capt Patrick Walker, along with four Royal Navy veterans, one of whom is aged 92 and remembers the WW2 hero after joining the Navy in 1942.

Capt Patrick Walker commented: “It gives me great pleasure to be back in Bootle on such an auspicious occasion as the opening of the Port Academy Liverpool.

“Bootle has long had very profound associations with my family, of course.”

He continued: “It is very exciting to think that my grandfather’s heroic exploits are now being used as an inspiration for future generations of seafarers, rather than just being confined to our maritime history.”

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