Nurturing PH’s maritime advantage

Nurturing PH’s maritime advantage
Malaya Business Insight - October 13, 2022 https://malaya.com.ph/news_opinion/nurturing-phs-maritime-advantage/

‘…President Bongbong Marcos knows that other countries like India and Indonesia could overtake us in the maritime labor market if we do not nurture our competitive advantage.’

COUNTRIES that are naturally archipelagic possess a distinct advantage in having native residents who are accustomed to sea travel. There are some 20 states which can be considered as archipelagic — the biggest is Indonesia and the others are Japan, the Philippines, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. It is small wonder then that we are among the biggest suppliers of seafarers in the world.

Available data showed that around 229,000 Filipino workers are on board merchant shipping vessels around the world at any given time. Overall, Filipino sea-based workers comprised more than 25 percent of 1.5 million mariners worldwide, thus becoming the single biggest nationality bloc in the shipping industry.

At this time when the country needs US dollars to shore up its central bank reserves, our Filipino seafarers are ready to help the country with their remittances and save the economy. While the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) says that the Philippines has been the world’s No. 1 supplier of sea-based workers since 1987, President Bongbong Marcos knows that other countries like India and Indonesia could overtake us in the maritime labor market if we do not nurture our competitive advantage.

Thus, during the 11th Cabinet meeting in Malacañang last Oct. 11, Marcos ordered the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) to address issues concerning maritime schools, especially those that do not comply with educational quality standards. The President also wanted MARINA, now headed by Administrator Hernani N. Fabia, a respected maritime educator, to look into the problems of students’ ship boarding requirements, to make sure that these are up to international standards.

Clearly, the President wants to upgrade the competencies of maritime schools in the country and to “fix training programs to give the students advantage and put them to international standards” in order to maintain the country’s rank as the top supplier of seafarers in the world.

On a strategic plane, the Chief Executive also directed the creation of a Maritime Industry Development Plan to boost our maritime sector, and ordered the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to keep the country’s ports efficient to attract more cruise ships and tourists.

The law mandates MARINA to be the single maritime administration in the implementation of the International Convention on the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) for Seafarers 1978. Thru its STCW Office, the agency establishes policies and procedures for its stakeholders – covering the provisions on training, certification and assessment system of Filipino seafarers to ensure that they are well educated, trained and equipped with knowledge and competencies aligned with national and international standards.

Under Administrator Fabia, the STCW Office of MARINA was recently granted the continuance of certification to ISO 9001:2015, completing the certification cycle of its Quality Management System in its central office as well as its satellite and regional offices.

With this early accomplishment, there is at least an indication that the reforms the President wanted can be implemented by the present MARINA leadership.