DOLE fears displacement of seafarers due to crisis
Mayen Jaymalin
Philippine Star
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported that over 40,000 Filipino seamen could be displaced due to the prevailing global economic crisis.
Labor Secretary Marianito Roque warned the people that the economic crisis is expected to cause a tourism slump that might adversely affect the employment of Filipino seafarers on board international cruise ships.
“There have been already reports of a slump in tourism, including sea-based tourism. This is a concern because one out of five seafarers — or 47,782 out of 226,900 we deployed in 2007 — are working on board passenger or cruise ships,” Roque noted.
“Our primary consideration is the continued employment of our seafarers in the face of the real possibility of an employment crunch that the financial crisis is expected to bring about,” Roque added.
Despite the gloomy prospects for the manning agencies, Roque said, there is still a need for the country to generate sufficient number of marine officers.
At this time, Roque said the local manning agencies are also facing a shortage of qualified ship officers aside from the financial crisis.
Roque said that out of the 226,900 seafarers deployed in 2007, only 51,353 or 23 percent, were officers. Of these officers, only 13,615, or 26.5 percent, were third engineer officers and third mates.
“This shortage (in ship officers) is a global trend. In fact, the shortage of marine officers is expected to reach 27,000, while ratings will increase to 167,000 by 2015.”
Roque said the shortage might likely worsen because the sea borne trade is increasing faster than the rate of new ship constructions, which grows by only 3.1 percent on average.
“This means that more ships will be needed to carry out trade. And because of increased ship demand, shipbuilding output is expected to double in five years,” he explained.
Thus, with or without a crisis, Roque said the country must produce more ship officers to maximize the opportunities in the global shipping market.
To address the shortage of officers, the Philippine government and DOLE launched this year the “Seafaring Caravan,” a public information campaign promoting the merchant marine profession to high school students, career guidance counselors, and principals.
The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) has also been publishing the list of topnotch maritime schools, based on the results of the licensure examinations, to promote quality education.
PRC is also set to issue the implementing guidelines for the management level courses for maritime officers.
In late 2005, the PRC, the CHED, and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration or POEA, introduced a bridging course that enabled graduates of mechanical and electrical engineering courses to obtain a bachelor’s degree in marine engineering and to qualify them for licensure examination.
Roque said the course was designed to facilitate the production of more marine engineers due to the declining number of enrollees in maritime schools.
No Comments, Comment or Ping
Reply to “DOLE fears displacement of seafarers due to crisis”