Saturday, August 09, 2008 ‘Rigid’ requirements cause lack of seamen
THE shortage of competent Filipino seafarers can be blamed on the “rigid” update training requirements in the country, an official of a manning agency said yesterday.
Rey Gorgod, fleet and recruitment manager of Great Southern Maritime Services Corp. (GSM), a manning agency that opened its Cebu branch yesterday, contradicted the notion that there is a lack of qualified Filipino seafarers.
He said due to non-compliance to required update and competency trainings, only a few Filipino seamen have been promoted junior officer level.
Indian, Burmese and Chinese seafarers, on the other hand, are promoted faster since it is easier for them to comply with seafaring regulations in the country, Gorgod said.
“They are just required the basic training, about two or three trainings for compliance,” he added.
In the Philippines, seafarers are subjected to extensive training, which is advantageous since Filipinos are considered to be more skillful.
However, the price of training courses in the country prevents seamen to upgrade their skills.
Costly
An update training given by a Maritime Training Council (MTC)-accredited establishment would cost at least P60,000, excluding travel and lodging costs for provincial applicants. The trainings may last from five to eight days.
Without the said trainings, licenses and seaman’s book are not renewed by the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina).
As a way to address this concern, GSM is urging shipping companies to invest in cadetship training programs to be able to supply the manning demand of Filipino seafarers, especially when Filipino seamen are still the “top picks” of international shipping lines.
GSM also supplies seamen for inter-island ships. Gorgod said its inter-island crew members are trained based on international standards so the company is able to establish a manpower pool that international shipping companies can tap.
GSM, a member-company of the MSI group based in Singapore, has been in the manning industry in the last 14 years, providing crew for European and Asian shipping companies that own tanker, cargo, passenger, bulk and luxury ships.
With the opening of its Cebu branch, applicants from Cebu and neighboring provinces no longer have to travel far to Manila to process their applications.
Gorgod also confirmed that 80 percent of its applicants come from Cebu and other provinces in the Visayas.
Next week, GSM-Cebu expects to get its license to operate from the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) so that it can already start processing applications.
The company is aiming to process a minimum of 50 applications a month. (DME)
