In the spirit of giving and looking to improve Bahamian opportunities to work in the Grand Bahama Shipyard (GBS), over two thousand pounds of welding electrodes were given to various welding programmes in Grand Bahama.

These costly and much-needed electrodes, used to practice with, were donated to St. George’s High School, Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI), Pineyard Steel and Technical Cadet Corp. “Welding is a very large programme at BTVI at the Freeport campus,” said Veronica Collie, Assistant Manager at BTVI. ”This donation of welding rods will definitely be beneficial to many of the students here.”

The Shipyard team noted that the welding programmes were selected to receive this donation as many of the staff they need are pulled from these accredited training programmes.

“These institutes give people the basic skills necessary for employment at the Shipyard,” said Don Forbes, Training Manager. “We’re helping both the welding students and eventually us because when they come to the Shipyard as apprentices, they already have the foundations needed. It also helps give them more expertise because they get to practice with various types of rods.”

Carl Rotkirch, Chairman and CEO at GBS was on hand for the presentation, and commended the welding programmes for working to ensure that students improve their technical skills.

“The Shipyard team is incredibly pleased that they could once again make this donation, as they know it will contribute greatly to the training of those who wish to enter careers in welding,” said Rotkirch. “As we state repeatedly, we want to hire Bahamians but they must be trained to meet international standards. We hope donations like these help many more Bahamians meet these standards and join us in our business.”

About GB Shipyard

Located on Grand Bahama Island in the Freeport Maritime Centre, 73 miles east of Florida, Grand Bahama Shipyard is one of the biggest ship repair companies in the region. With 3 floating docks that feature all the capabilities and resources for dry-docking, repairs, upgrades and conversions of ships, as well as the ability to fabricate marine structures. GB Shipyard is now also ready to take on fabrication projects, especially for offshore industry. Learn more at www.gbshipyard.com