Mission to Brussels successful – Empedrad: "Our corrective action is much better than the ones we have been doing for the past 14 years"

Mission to Brussels successful – Empedrad
February 16, 2022 https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/02/16/business/maritime/mission-to-brus...

MARITIME authorities of the European Commission (EC) are pleased with the current government's efforts, through the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), to correct the shortcomings identified by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).

Fresh from the trip to Brussels where he led the Philippine delegation to a meeting with the maritime officials of the EC, Marina Administrator Robert Empedrad displayed confidence that his group was able to win the trust of European officials and shipowners that Marina is on the right track in correcting the perceived deficiencies in the country's compliance with the STCW Convention.

The favorable response from the European Commission Department for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) was evident after the Philippine delegation made a presentation of the initial corrective actions that the country had undertaken, Empedrad said.

"Our corrective action is much better than the ones we have been doing for the past 14 years," he said.

"I believe everything is working fine now. [Hence] the mission to Brussels is very successful; it's very productive and there's a lot of positivity," the Marina chief, who is visibly happy with the outcome of the European trip, told the stakeholders' meeting on Feb. 15, 2022.

Last December 20, Marina received a letter from the European Commission DG MOVE which seemed to give Marina a stern warning or ultimatum to submit its corrective actions "not later than March 10, 2022."

The letter signed by Henrik Hololei, director-general of EC's DG MOVE, warned that as a result of failure to beat the deadline, "the European Commission could withdraw the EU-wide recognition of the Republic of the Philippines' certificates."

Vice Admiral Empedrad reported to the 500 representatives of maritime schools, licensed manning agencies and training providers that attended the meeting that they met Hololei, who merely told them to submit evidence of the corrective measures that Marina had implemented.

"He even assured us that if there's a need to monitor the corrective actions, they can come back [to the Philippines]," the vice admiral said, adding that also in attendance was Director Magda Kopczynska of D-Waterborne, DG MOVE, who was once a member of the EMSA team that visited the country some years back.

On the part of the Philippine delegation, the members included the Philippine Ambassador to Belgium Edgardo de la Vega; STCW Office Executive Director VAdm Rene Medina and his deputy executive director Capt. Jeffery Solon, EMSA task group chairman; and a representative from the Commission on Higher Education.

There was also positive feedback from European shipowners. They were able to meet the acting secretary-general of the European Commission Shipowners Association (ECSA), Sotiris Raptis, who assured the Filipino officials of help in complying with EMSA.

"It brings solace to receive so much encouragement and support from ECSA. They said they would provide all the necessary support [to us] to comply with EMSA even in submitting to the EC. Nakakatuwa and very fruitful ang meeting namin with ECSA," commented the Marina administrator.

Notwithstanding his favorable assessment of the European trip, Empedrad still wanted to play safe by encouraging LMA's to advise their seafarers with only one or two years validity of their certificates to renew them as soon as possible.

Responding to the inquiry of lawyer Iris Baguilat, president of Döhle Seafront Crewing (Manila), on the early revalidation of seafarers' certificates to mitigate an adverse EC ruling, Empedrad clarified that only those with a valid certificate would be allowed to serve European-flagged ships.

"Those who have current licenses at the time of the negative decision on EMSA will continue to serve on European vessels, but those who have renewed their licenses after the decision has been made will no longer be allowed to serve; that is the effect of the withdrawal of recognition support."

He added that should the Philippines get a negative decision, it would take three years of full compliance before the EC could reconsider its negative decision and reverse it.

The Marina chief also explained that in the worst-case scenario, only about 56,000 officers are likely to be affected by an adverse decision of the EC, but the number could still be reduced by employing these mitigation measures.