|
GOVERNMENT agencies funded to keep track of Filipino
seafarers’ data are unable to determine the exact number
of those who are onboard, despite efforts to compare
these with the registered manning agencies.
There
were a number of differences of the figures when the
manning agencies’ group led by the Filipino Association
for Mariners’ Employment Inc. (FAME) compared the data
given by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC)
and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
“Due to
the extreme large volume of data, the use of many
different titles and ranks for different positions, the
numerous vessel types, the unknown license requirements
for special vessels, time constraints and due to
non-compliance, the industry is unable to reasonably
make a more detailed, and accurate estimate of numbers
of our actual supply situation,” according to the paper
of Ericson Marquez, the secretary of FAME and other
manning groups that commissioned the study.
Based on
PRC data, there are a total of 100,748 officers with
license—from master to fourth engineer.
The
group, however, found out that with 48,823 current
officers on- board and 8,283 on vacation, there are some
43,642 people that were unaccounted for.
“We can
reasonably conclude that the difference shown represents
those who are either retired or are no longer actively
sailing, those working on domestic vessels, those
working on land and, those who have obtained next higher
licenses but are still holding a lower position,”
Marquez said.
Marquez’s findings were presented at the Philippine
Manning Convention some two weeks ago.
The POEA,
through a memorandum advisory, has recently asked all
licensed manning companies to submit the list of their
manned vessels together with actual positions occupied
by Filipino seafarers as well as the number of their
vacationing seafarers for each position based on
vessel’s type and size.
“However, the incomplete reports from the manning
companies had to be supplemented by the POEA’s available
computer-based data so that a more accurate information
on the available supply can be obtained,” Marquez said.
The said
disparity of the figures, he said, is an important issue
especially for the manning industry since it needs to
take stock of the current supply of Filipino seafarers.
The
Philippines is reportedly supplying about 28 percent of
the world’s fleet, but the industry still has to
determine the country’s capacity to produce more
would-be officers.
“Present
demand from the traditional countries utilizing Filipino
officers and crew like
Japan,
Norway,
Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Italy
indicates that the preference for Filipino officers and
crew will be much higher than its present reported world
market share,” Marquez said.
This is
to be expected since the Philippines has the
infrastructure and the mass base supply of present and
future seafarers to meet a substantial part of demand
compared with other crew supplying countries, he added.
“Therefore, as a target objective, the industry is
projecting a 50-percent share of the new vessels, or
about 3,680 out of the 7,360 new vessels,” Marquez said. |
