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The
country’s crewing companies supplying (CMS) thousands of
Filipino seafarers to major international carriers
should help the Philippine educational and licensing
systems rather than rant that it is the government’s job
and not the industry’s.
CMS Crew
Management Services Inc. president Vicente F. Aldanese
Jr. said in his paper released recently to add to
industry debate on the shortage of maritime officers.
Principals should also invest more on the training
Filipino seafarers, Aldanese recommends.
He noted
that the principals—owners of shipping businesses—should
admit their efforts to hire other nationalities to solve
the current shortage of officers has already failed.
The
Philippines supply about 300,000 seafarers to the
growing international fleet, or about 28 percent, of the
total global maritime population.
“Some
still cling to the traditional concept that government
must bail the industry out of its doldrums,” Aldanese
said. “It won’t happen.”
In his
paper, Aldanese said there was never “any offer of
meaningful assistance” from the national government or
its agencies “to build a stable supply of good marine
cadets.” He backs up his accusation with the CMS Crew
Management’s three decades of experience.
He added
that the industry should collectively fund a number of
maritime schools that have the capacity to maintain
standards. They should also give full scholarship to a
number of deserving cadets, whom someday will go up the
ladder and take an officer position, he advised.
“It is
now time for both us [crewing agencies] and employers to
accept that the heydays of yesteryears are a thing of
the past. You want good crews, you must pay for it. It
will cost you dearly, but not as expensive as having
improperly trained personnel that could bankrupt you,”
he said.
Aldanese
said that ship owners have been puzzled why owners have
not invested on the Filipino seafarers, which was
crippled by the systemic problems in education, but
instead put their millions on Chinese education and
training systems.
“Where
are the vaunted Chinese crews now? They are still there
but now working for their own shipping companies and
industrial shipping industry. Some still work abroad
[for] non-Chinese owned ships, but this is no longer
sufficient to cover the shortage that is required for
the millions of tons of shipping [vessels] on order,” he
said.
According to a recent study, there is a shortage of
30,000 maritime officers—on deck and engine
positions—between now until 2015, as a result of strong
demand from the industry and the building of 500 ships
in Japan by 2010 to 2011.
According to simulations conducted by the local manning
industry, the country can only produce less than 1,000 a
year for the combined engine and deck positions.
Data
from the Philippine Regulation Commission, as of June
2007, the country has registered some 76,282 marine deck
officers and 77,222 marine engine officers. Of the
figure, however, some 66 percent are just for
officer-in-charge positions, or a rung lower than what
the industry needs.
Even if
PRC speeds up its system via the long-delayed walk-in
computerized licensure examination system, the industry
needs more since the attrition rate is higher than the
replacement rate. |
