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Media
Foreign ship owners, including the 200-member Norwegian Ship owners Association (NSA), prefer to hire Filipino seafarers who are considered as hardworking, dedicated, and loyal to the companies that hire them.
Norwegian Training Center (NTC) Director Odd Magne Skei said NSA-member companies have noticed the working skills of Filipino seafarers and are now looking at the possibility of hiring Filipinos for the NSA’s 1,774 ships. NTC is the operating arm of the NSA in the Philippines.
"Filipinos are very dedicated and they can play a big role in filling up the projected demand of at least 25,000 seafarers in 2015," said Skei, adding that 45 percent of the senior seafarers in Europe and the US will retire in 2012, further increasing the demand for seafarers.
To meet the projected demand for skilled seafarers, the NTC has forged a partnership agreement with the University of Cebu to provide scholarhip for at least 300 deserving students who will take up maritime courses.
The scholarship program, which University of Cebu (UC) president Augusto W. Go said will equip Filipino seafarers with the knowledge and skills in the global maritime industry, will be implemented on June 2008.
Go said it will also help them improve their lives and eradicate poverty noting the huge compensation, benefits and privileges Filipino seafarers enjoy when working overseas.
At present, overseas ship captains and chief engineers earn between 6,000 dollars to 7,000 dollars or more than P300,000 a month, while a master mariner earn up to 2,000 dollars or more than P86,000 a month.
An P80-million facility will be established in the Lapu-Lapu-Mandaue campus of UC which will house the scholars’ dormitory, a mock bridge, computer laboratories, machine shops and simulators for deck and engine officers. The entire facility sits on a 6,000-square-meter lot. MV Princesa, a P6-million vessel, will be used by students for their classes.
UC Chancellor Candice Gotianuy said the UCLM campus is expected to enroll 900 scholars in the next three years.
Gotianuy said aside from free education expenses, each UCLM-NSA scholar will receive supplementary lectures, training upgrades, hands-on computer-based training and shipboard trips.
As part of their curriculum, NSA scholars will be on board an international vessel on their third year for exposure to global seafaring.
Skei said the NSA scholarship gives priorities to Filipino seafarers to be onboard Norwegian vessels.
He noted the Filipinos’ communication skills and ability to adjust to any condition.
"We are moving towards offering more advanced and high tech training facilities in cooperation with our industry partners due to reported needs of NSA members worldwide," Magne Skei said.
Since 1993, UC, in partnership with the Norwegian Maritime Foundation of the Philippines Inc., has been offering scholarships to students taking up Marine Transportation and marine Engineering courses.
UC is one of the seven maritime schools in the Philippines accredited by NTC and recognized by 40 shipping companies and principals worldwide. The NSA’s venture with UC has been ongoing at the UC Maritime Education and Training Center, where over 13 batches of sponsored cadets have taken to the sea for their apprenticeship.
In 2006, there were 274,497 seamen who compose 25.83 percent of the deployed OFWs for the year. The sea-based dollar earners contributed a total of US$ 1.2 billion to the Philippine economy for the year.
Source:The Manila Bulletin Online
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