Number of Filipino seafarers abroad still high
Despite taking a major hit from a down check issued by the European Commission on Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) early this year due to alleged deficiencies in their training curriculum, the number of Filipino seafarers serving aboard the international merchant marine fleet has climbed to 400,000 this 2011 or significantly higher than the projected 347,000 by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
POEA administrator Carlos Cao, Jr. attributed this positive trend to the excellent reputation developed by the Filipino seamen through the years and that the Philippine government did its best to rectify the deficiencies detected by the EMSA in the country’s maritime training and education.
The government and other maritime industry stakeholders have shown their unity in correcting the problems and that the Philippines submission of the measures to correct the deficiency to the EMSA, well before June deadline, gave the country much credibility in the international seafaring community, he said.
Cao was referring to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)’s efforts to take the “corrective measures and serious prompt attention” to protect the reputation of the Philippines’ maritime education sector and to address the issues raised in the EMSA report, which came after a follow-up inspection in 2010.
As a result, the DOLE said that the Philippine was already on the “refresh list” for flag state white list status by the International Maritime Organization.
DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said that the government was committed to making sure that all maritime educational institutions in the Philippines fully met the requirements of the international convention on standards of training, certification and watchkeeping, including major amendments to the STCW convention hammered out in Manila in June 2010.
Maritime academies in the Philippines reportedly turned out 280,000 graduates every year. That is well in excess of the 229,000 said to be serving on ships at any one time.
The Philippines manning industry earlier announced that it would be deploying a record 400,000 seafarers worldwide by the end of this year despite the crisis in Europe .
In a statement, Eduardo U. Manese, Joint Manning Group (JMG) chairman, said the projected seafarers deployment would have an expected foreign currency remittance of about US$ 4 billion to the Philippine economy.
JMG, which is the umbrella organization of the country’s crew management and overseas shipping industry, has vowed to strongly support and work together with the Department of Labor Employment (DOLE) and its line agencies in preserving the sector’s achievement as the top supplier of seafarers to the world’s merchant marine fleet.
“DOLE has been working closely with us to address pressing issues concerning the ratification of the Maritime Labor Convention and the Seafarers’ Identification Document, and the anti-piracy program to help our seafarers combat piracy in the high seas,” Manese said.
He added that despite the financial crisis affecting European economies, demand for Filipino seafarers to operate commercial ships of various flags had hardly diminished.
In 2010, the Philippines deployed 347,000 shipboard personnel, a 5.06 percent growth over 2009, figures from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration showed.
“We’ve maintained our position in the maritime manpower market as shipowners re-think strategies to cut costs while keeping their commitment to meet minimum standards of international conventions in view of the regulatory changes that will affect maritime manpower,” Manese said.
This coming 2012, changes in the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Convention of the International Maritime Organization and the Maritime Labor Convention of the International Labor Organization will be enforced.
These regulatory changes would affect the overall maritime manpower market, Manese said.
JMG is composed of the Filipino Association for Mariners’ Employment, the Philippine Association of Manning Agencies and Shipmanagers, the International Maritime Association of the Philippines , the Philippine Japan Manning Consultative Council, and the Filipino Shipowners Association.
