CREWING agencies plan to encourage maritime schools to upgrade their educational standards, helping produce better graduates and assisting unfit students to shift to other careers.

In an interview Tuesday, an official of the Philippine Japan Manning Consultative Council (PJMCC) said that the group plans to examine 71 schools this year, higher than the 56 institutions it assessed last year.

"We are not seeking the closure of the schools, but we want quality students that will go to the industry. We want them to help us in improving the skills that will someday go to the [shipping] industry," Eduardo Manese, PJMCC president said.

The initiative intends to examine individual capacities of second and third year BS Maritime Transportation or BS Maritime Engineering students by measuring whether they can already pass licensure examinations once they graduate.

"To those who will not make it, they can shift to another course, for example in hotel and restaurant management, then, if they really want to go onboard they can still work for cruise liners," Manese said. "We just have to move together to uplift the skills of our seafarers."

Besides seeking to ease the burden of vessels, which accept graduating students for shipboard training, the assessment intends to raise the passing rate of those taking the licensure examination given by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

Earlier, some groups have earlier called for the agency to either lower their passing rates to produce more seafarers who, in the next five years—with additional training—could be officers.

However, the PRC has rejected the idea.

Industry records indicate that of the 9,000 students taking the maritime-licensure exams, only 20 percent or less secure accreditation.

Although the global shipping industry needs a total 67,800 officers and 22,600 senior officers by 2010, the Philippines, according to estimates, can only produce more than 3,000 officers, given the current system of education and training.

The Philippines, which supplies about 28 percent of seafarers globally, is also expected to be the source of crewmembers and officers, even as the country's education system has become a liability. 

Last week, an official of Oslo-based Thome Ship Management Shipping Philippines Inc. said that the company is spending about $2 million a year for either training or retraining of Filipino seafarers so that they can meet the company's requirements.

Firms to help upgrade maritime courses

CREWING agencies plan to encourage maritime schools to upgrade their educational standards, helping produce better graduates and assisting unfit students to shift to other careers.

THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) will request the assistance of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to help implement a program allowing importers to clear their goods half-an- hour upon arrival at the country's terminals.

NAGASAKI—Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Japan’s third-largest shipyard, aims to more than double earnings from its shipbuilding operations next fiscal year, helped by demand for vessels to carry goods to and from China.

PARIS—Bourbon SA, owner of the world’s biggest fleet of supply ships for deep-water oil exploration, said 2007 profit more than doubled after the sale of assets.