World Merchant Marine Fleet Expected To Grow In The Next Two Years; Philippines Expected To Benefit As More Filipino Seafarers To Be Deployed

The Philippine government has drawn up a strategic plan for the local maritime industry with policies that are tailored to support the Filipino seafarers who might be facing job pressures when the global cargo fleet expands in the next two years.

The National Economic Development Authority or NEDA reaffirmed these strategic plans of the government’s support for the Filipino seafarers which comprise about 24 percent of the total number of overseas Filipino workers.

The Assistant Director General of NEDA, Ruperto P. Majuca expressed concern that Filipino seafarers working on EU-flagged vessels may be facing a possible ban due to a possible revocation of the accreditation of some Philippine maritime schools.

To address this situation, the Commission on Higher Education or CHED has intensified its inspection of maritime schools, which resulted in a clampdown of some fly by night maritime institutions.

The technical Education and Skills Development Authority or TESDA, on the other hand, has also revamped their technical assessment of maritime schools and proposed the creation of a single pool assessors and seafarers.

The international merchant marine industry is expecting a surge in the number of vessels coming out of shipyards in the next few years, which spells out to deployment of more seafarers to man these vessels.

With this development, some Quarters believe that the Philippines should now start looking into the direction of being a ship management center, rather than just a manning or crewing agency center.

But there is a need for competence building as there are more technically advanced ship that require some specialized competencies among officers and crew. Regular upgrading and updating of standards on safety and security should be done to keep up with international standards and practices.

The Philippines government will surely implement the standards on safety and security and will also ratify maritime safety and security-related convention to enhance maritime safety and security

Four (4) Local Maritime Schools Face Closure

At least four maritime schools face closure as the government intensifies its efforts to produce more efficient and competent Filipino seafarers .

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Commissioner Nona Ricafort however declined to identify these substandard schools because they have pending appeals with the Commission.

One main reason, the Commission said why they have to close a scholl is that maritime program requires a very expensive laboratory. When you don’t have the laboratory, it added, it is believed that you cannot expect much from the graduates, adding that the necessary equipment cost between P 25 million to P 35 million.

for the past six years, CHED has been imposing a moratorium on the opening of new maritime schools in the country.

It is reported that there are some maritime schools with handsome facades but have barely nothing inside, in terms of laboratory equipment.

The DOLE earlier reported that the European Commission’s Maritime Safety Agency or EMSA has found deficiencies in the country’s maritime training education and certification system.