PHL crewing sector in jeopardy in EU?

SHipping is the lifeblood of the global economy. The world’s shipping industry is responsible for the transport of about 90 percent of global trade. There are over 50,000 merchant ships registered in over 150 countries and manned by nearly two million seafarers.

The worldwide population of seafarers serving on internationally trading merchant ships is estimated at 1,892,720 seafarers, of which 857,540 are officers and 1,035,180 are ratings, according to the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS). The Philippines, Russia, Indonesia, China and India are the largest suppliers of ratings and officers working on merchant ships.

The ICS said that while the global supply of officers is seen increasing steadily, growing demand will outpace this trend. It said the forecast growth in the world merchant fleet over the next 10 years, and its anticipated demand for seafarers, will likely continue the trend of an overall shortage in the supply of officers.

“Future outlook indicates that the industry and its stakeholders should not expect an abundant supply of qualified and competent seafarers without concerted efforts and measures to address key manpower issues, through promotion of careers at sea, enhancement of maritime education and training worldwide, and addressing the retention of seafarers,” the ICS said.

Data from the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) show that from 507,730 sea-based workers deployed in 2019, this dropped to 217,233 in 2020 before rising to 345,517 in 2021. In the first half of 2022, 135,954 sea-based workers were deployed but this figure does not include some cruise ship workers, the DMW said.

Filipino seafarers’ remittances helped keep the Philippine economy afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, they contributed $6.54 billion or around 21 percent of the total remittances of our overseas Filipino workers in 2021.

Here’s the bad news: The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), which reported unfavorable findings on the Philippines’s maritime education, training, and certification system, has threatened to withdraw the certification of around 40,000 Filipino seafarers working on European vessels because some Philippine agencies were unable or unwilling to implement reforms since the first EMSA assessment in 2006.

In the 2006 assessment, the EMSA said some maritime training institutions in the Philippines did not comply with the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping (STCW). Similar findings were reported in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2017.

The EMSA came back to the Philippines in 2020 to validate the country’s compliance following the findings in previous inspections. Unfortunately, the Philippines failed to act on the concerns raised by EMSA, so the trust was broken when the European agency returned for another audit.

President Marcos, sensing the urgency of the matter, promised to “strictly comply” with the standards set by EMSA in three months. He also ordered the creation of an advisory board to address inconsistencies found by the EU.

The President issued the directive at a meeting with International Maritime Employers’ Council (IMEC) Chief Executive Officer Francisco Gargiulo and several business executives and leaders of European shipping companies and shipowners associations in Brussels on December 13 during the Asean-eu Commemorative Summit.

The Philippine shipping and crewing sectors are well aware of the importance of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping. For the longest time, however, they failed to comply with the EU’S standards for seafarers. Now the Philippines has a very short time to put our maritime house in order. Thanks to the President’s resolve in implementing reforms, he may have stopped the EU from terminating Filipino seafarers’ certificates of recognition.

Expressing support for the Philippines’s efforts to comply with the EU’S standards for seafarers, Danish Ambassador to the Philippines Franz-michael Mellbin said Denmark values the role of Filipinos in the global maritime industry, adding that Danish shipping firms are also major employers of Filipino seafarers. “Denmark is very, very happy with Filipino maritime professionals, and it will be a very great loss to the industry and the Philippines if that is not an option anymore,’’ he said.

As the number one source of seafarers in the world, the Philippines needs to continuously strengthen the training, exposure, competence, and ability of Filipino seafarers. It would do well for authorities not to put the country’s maritime industry in rough waters by neglecting to comply with global standards for seafarers. There’s a huge price to pay if they put the Philippine crewing sector in jeopardy. Let’s not kill an industry that contributes billions of dollars to the country’s economy.