Ponant Explorations and the Australian Maritime College will mark the first anniversary of their cadet training partnership this October, with 29 navigation and engineer cadets having logged a combined 7.1 years of sea time across the line’s fleet since the program launched in October 2025.
Cadets gain hands-on experience across nine vessels
Cadets have sailed aboard nine Ponant Explorations vessels during the partnership’s first year, ranging from the Indian Ocean to the geographic North Pole. Beyond core navigation and engineering training, cadets gained skills including safety drill coordination, vessel maintenance compliance reporting, celestial navigation and conversational French, alongside hands-on equipment troubleshooting and public speaking experience.
Cadet Finn Arnold helped design and run a fire-drill scenario aboard Le Bellot before leading the debrief. Arnold logged 4.5 months of sea time earlier this year, sailing from the Seychelles to Iceland, and returns in late November for a further 4.5 months sailing from Darwin to the Ross Sea, Micronesia and Japan, working toward the 18 months of sea time required to graduate as an officer.
Partnership positioned as major maritime training investment
Mal Wise, principal of the Australian Maritime College, said the program gives students confidence in pursuing a maritime career. “It shows them that opportunities are real, their work matters, and their profession is respected and valued,” Wise said. Deb Corbett, chief executive of Ponant Explorations Asia Pacific, said the company is proud of the cadets’ progress and remains committed to supporting future intakes.
Ponant described the partnership as one of the largest single-company commitments to sea time placements in decades. Recruitment for the next summer intake is now open to Australian Maritime College students.
For agents and industry stakeholders following expedition cruising’s workforce pipeline, the partnership signals continued investment in training pathways for Australian maritime careers, potentially relevant to broader conversations about crew skills and staffing across the expedition cruise sector.
