What was once a one-man operation in 1985, the not-for-profit has now fed $58.5 million back into the AMC.

The company’s push to keep up with new maritime technology and employ instructors from the world over was key to its success, AMC Search deputy chief executive Catherine Wilson said.

‘‘That’s how I see us staying alive, by being able to look at the industry, look at what’s coming up and being agile enough  and flexible enough to develop training in the areas that we’ve identified,’’ Mrs Wilson said.

The company attracted students from the world over for short maritime courses, but had to reinvent itself when facing a shrinking industry.

‘‘Where traditionally we used to train all the crews on all the Australian fleets, we’ve had to reassess our business and look at other areas of maritime training, so we’ve specialised out into things like maritime traffic services,’’ Mrs Wilson said.

She said the company continued to be a rewarding place to work after her 20 years there.

‘‘The first year I started in 1998, we generated $300,000 in revenue in short courses, and in 2015 we generated close to $4 million in short courses,’’ she said.

‘‘There was heaps of scope for growth, heaps of scope to develop the business, and it’s not like it’s the same job day in and day out, it changes so much.’’