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THE
country’s maritime regulator is in talks with several
local shipping operators on how to reverse the bleak
status of the industry’s labor force.
Of the
yearly 15,000 graduates of seafaring courses, 3,000
qualify to get licensure examinations after several
apprenticeships. Of these, only 195 are competent enough
to handle nautical tasks on local or international
vessels.
The
numbers come from data shared by Maritime Industry
Authority (Marina) chief Vicente Suazo in an interview.
He, however, declined to name the local shipping
operators, saying the talks are ongoing and it would be
premature to disclose further details at this time.
Between
this year and 2012, around 8,000 ships will be delivered
to the Philippines—touted as the seafaring capital of
the world. If every ship should require eight officers,
the country would need around 64,000 skilled seafarers
to fill these positions.
“This is
absolutely alarming,” Suazo said. “What’s happening to
the country that holds the distinction as the major
supplier of professionals in ship management?”
“We need
to retrain students who fell flat from varied
apprenticeships and tests,” he said.
“These
students should be given basic activities, like
repairing or painting ships, which could give them [a]
second chance to go…abroad,” Suazo said.
The
country’s shipping regulator said such move could
“alleviate” the lack of available workers.
Likewise, Suazo protested the several assessments for
seafarers in the Philippines to qualify for deployment
in the industry.
“It’s
only through being a seaman where you need to succeed in
various evaluations. Do you see that in our engineers,
medical doctors or architects?” he said.
Suazo
also lamented the country’s ship-registry system, saying
Philippine-registered vessels cannot compete with their
international counterparts as a result of the
4.5-percent withholding tax the operator pays the
government every month.
Recently, the Marina has drafted an executive order (EO),
to replace the tax with tonnage dues and annual
registration fees which, when combined, are still
comparatively cheaper than the current rate.
Foreign-owned ships represented by a ship-management
company accredited by the Marina would be entitled to
fly the country’s flag, according to the EO draft.
At the
moment, there are only about 168 vessels in the
Philippine registry, from 400 in the 1980s. |
