It is the first maritime institution to earn the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (PACUCOA) Level IV re-accredited status.

Juan Bautista Lacson, a distinguished Filipino sea captain who is of the prominent Lacson family, graduated from Philippine Nautical School (presently the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy) class of 1920, a talented and hard working master mariner in his time.

To accommodate its growing population, the Academy transferred locations a couple of times before settling along Muelle Loney Street, Iloilo City in 1953.

The height of activism, strikes, pickets and labor unrest in the country in 1971 did not spare the Iloilo Maritime Academy from the fury of the times.

In 1985, a contest was conducted among the members of the institution for a new logo due to the conversion of Iloilo Maritime Academy into JBLCF.

Located in JBLFMU-Molo, students are given with basic seamanship subjects and are given a chance to experience life on board a ship through a navigational trip on their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year in school.

Every year, the navigational trips include various places ranging from Manila, Bacolod, Cebu, and Cagayan Oro.