Shipowners’ Groups Commit to Provide More Funds to Train Seafarers

MARIVELES, Bataan -- Despite the global economic slowdown, European and Japanese ship owners said they are committed to giving more funds to train more Filipino seafarers at least for the next few years.

Both the Japanese Seafarers’ Union and its manning counterpart, the International Maritime Employers’ Committee (IMEC) said they will continue to support their hundreds of scholars at the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP), one of the country’s maritime schools, owned by the country’s largest seafarers’ labor group.

“Japanese ship owners are committed to assist MAAP and our cadets as best as we can. . . the JSU-IMMAJ [International Manning Managers Association of Japan] campus is an example of such commitment,” said Takao Manji, chairman of IMMAJ, at a ceremony at the start of MAAP’s 2009-2010 school year on Monday. No figures were given as to how much it has committed to give, but starting this year, there were additional 250 students on top of the about 300 existing students in varying levels. Japanese ship owners also gave half of the P500 million worth of new building and equipment inside MAAP’s campus in Kamaya Point.

All of the students in MAAP are scholars of their respective ship owners, hoping that this will solve the current shortage of officers on ocean-going vessels. With this setup, the employers can mold their would-be employee starting when the student enters the campus. Students, however, will have to work with the company immediately after graduation. On the other hand, IMEC, an organization mainly composed of European shipowners, have also increased their students from just 30 a year to about 180 at the start of this year in a dedicated campus in MAAP.

At the same time, IMEC also has 50 scholars studying at the University of Cebu. Bob Goodall, trustee of the International Manning Training Trust (IMTT) and vice president of IMEC, said they also plan to increase that number to 250 by next year, matching those of the Japanese scholars. Goodall said they are spending about $4.1 million a year for all of its cadets, and the figure will increase by next year if they decide to add more scholars. “We have no plans as of yet to decrease our attention on the training of our work force.”

About 70 percent of crew onboard Japanese-flagged fleet are Filipino seafarers, while IMEC employs about 66,000 Filipino seafarers, the single-biggest nationality among its fleet.