Panama promotes seafarer wellness and sees work contracts on the rise

Panama promotes seafarer wellness and sees work contracts on the rise
The Editorial Team April 25, 2023 https://safety4sea.com/panama-promotes-seafarer-wellness-and-sees-work-c...

Shipowners and seafarers participated actively in the 11th Meeting of the Embarking Committee, presided over by the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) through the General Directorate of Seafarers, providing ideas and executing projects to achieve compliance with the set objectives that benefit Panamanian seafarers.

According to the General Director of Seafarers of the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP), Captain Juan Maltez, the market of the seafarers’ recruitment in the Republic of Panama shows a boom and an encouraging behavior, according to the statistics of the Panama Maritime Authority. Panama has reached the amount of 1,505 stamped labour contracts, from which 128 correspond to the first trimester of the year 2023, 621 to the year 2022, 263 to 2021, 230 to 2020 and 263 to the second semester of 2019.

As stated in the press release, since its creation, the Embarking Committee has supported and facilitated the placement of seafarers through the Seafarers Database of the AMP. This has been done with transparency and focusing in competences, according to the needs of the maritime sector and the national and international current legislation, optimizing the personnel head hunting and providing better work opportunities to Panamanian seafarers, as AMP stated.

One of the determinant factors is the use of a second language and in some more specific cases even a third language, since the more languages are mastered, the more opportunities will arise.… added Captain Maltez

The AMP has recommended the International Maritime University of Panama (UMIP) and the Columbus University, both special guests of the Embarking Committee, to apply a previous exam to students, when entering the career and an exam afterwards, at the ending of the training, to document a better supervision, in order to obtain a more precise forecast of the English level.

Furthermore, during 2023 five new study programs corresponding to the Maritime Degree will be implemented including: Industry and Basic Maritime Regulations; Nautical Sciences; Fundamentals of Measuring and Industrial Safety; Drawing and Interpretation of Technical Manuals as well as Maritime Information Technology, emphasizing English, with the objective to help prepare the human capital required by Panama.