Features Breakbulk & Project Cargo
Organizations like We Work the Waterways and Houston Supply Chain / Logistics Education Collective connect students to maritime careers. Alex Hernandez, Port of South Louisiana
“ Sometimes, everything you learn from moving this one, gigantic 60-ton piece of equipment is going to be for a one-time project. And then you move to the next one, and you’ re learning about 50 different pieces and parts that have to go to 20 different places,” she said.
That means practical training and experience is essential for students pursuing careers as breakbulk professionals, added Madhav Pappu, clinical associate professor of international logistics and supply chain management at Texas A & M Galveston.
“ Breakbulk is still behind the learning curve when you compare it to container operations, which are very streamlined,” Pappu told the Journal of Commerce.
Hark said that because maritime programs tend to be broad-based to reach more students, it’ s typically up to the individual professors to incorporate breakbulk-specific lessons into courses such as brokerage and chartering, port operations, and inland transportation.
“ It’ s incumbent on the professors to bring breakbulk shipping, heavy-lift, and the geopolitics of where the capital projects are happening into courses where it makes sense,” Hark said, adding that working professionals who serve as adjunct professors are often the ones able to bring those real-world insights to the classroom.
Cross-sector competition
“ Some employers are saying,‘ Yeah, the interview sounds great, but when they get to the job site, they realize the person doesn’ t have the skills they said they have,’ so they are going back to basics and employing skill tests on site,” Galvao said, adding that programs can benefit from incorporating lessons to better train students on how to navigate and apply AI.
‘ Behind the curve’
Marco Poisler, COO of global energy and capital projects for UTC Overseas and an adjunct professor at the University of Houston, completed his dissertation on AI adoption in the maritime industry in February. He now incorporates AI and digital technology into the project logistics course he teaches at the University of Houston and presents an AI workshop at industry conferences.
“ For students today, we don’ t have to tell them to use AI; we don’ t have to tell them to use ChatGPT,” Poisler told the Journal of Commerce.“ We have to guide them on what is really relevant to business.”
Poisler said he challenges students to explore AI’ s opportunities, such as return on investment, while considering cybersecurity and other potential pitfalls.
“ My question is always: Will this make you money? Will this save you time? Or will this raise new risks for you and your company in how the data is being manipulated and used for purposes other than what was advertised?” he explained.
When it comes to development, Galvao and others noted that the bespoke, project-based nature of breakbulk and project logistics demands skills outside the realm of what professionals in other maritime sectors might face.
www. joc. com
One of the biggest hurdles facing the maritime industry is simply getting students to recognize career opportunities and consider maritime careers in the first place, Errin Howard, executive director for education nonprofit We Work the Waterways, told the Journal of Commerce. The organization connects students to careers in the maritime, shipping and logistics industries.
Compared to high-profile industries such as health care and technology, the maritime sector— and breakbulk and project logistics in particular— tends to slip under the radar when it comes time for students and rising professionals to choose a course of study, and ultimately a career path.
“ We can’ t look at this issue as Company A competing against Company B as the next generation of our workforce,” Howard said.“ We’ ve got to look at it as our industry competing against the other industries out there that are already well known and beating us to the classroom.”
Howard said the industry must take a more proactive role in introducing students to maritime careers.
“ Someone cannot choose a career they’ ve never heard of. And if you wait until they’ re ready to enter the workforce, it’ s just too late,” she said.
Hark, for example, said he has facilitated more than 260 professional connections through the Houston Supply Chain / Logistics Education Collective, a networking resource he created during the COVID-19 pandemic to help put students in contact with industry professionals in their areas of interest.
“ That gets them out in the industry to see what’ s available, and it also forces them to talk to people,” he said.
email: autumn @ autumngiusti. com
September 2026 | Journal of Commerce 17