Building a New Breed of Seafarers in Philippine Maritime Industry
SOUTHFIELD SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
“Grooming the New Breed of Leaders in the Seafaring Industry”
I Background
The Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) and International Shipping Federation (ISF) 2005 Update shows that in the year 2005, the world demand for seafarers was at 1,059,000. 476,000 of which were for officers while the remaining 586,000 were ratings. In the same year, the actual supply for officers was at 466,000 and supply of ratings was 721,000. Using these figures, it can be inferred that the crewing industry for seafarers has a deficit for officers’ supply amounting to 10,000 capable, certified and qualified individuals. This problem is foreseen to get worse in 2015 wherein there will be a net deficit of 25,000 officers and a net surplus of 167,000 ratings will be registered.
This deficit is threatening to get worse as the industry faces problems such as 25% of officers from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries such as USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Korea and Japan are said to be over 50 years old and 50% are over 40. Furthermore, relatively few officers from the Indian Sub-continent and South Korea remain at sea over the age of 50.
Despite this shortage of officers, the Philippines remains the dominant force in the shipping industry. As of 2003, 28.1% of all global crew on board are Filipinos compared to its closest rivals, Russia and Ukraine cornering 6.8% and 6.3% respectively. This can be attributed to “the competitive qualities of the Filipino seafarers, the sustained professional market-driven operations of the ship-crewing industry and the aggressive marketing thrust of the government.” (Santos, 2006)
However, the crewing industry nowadays realizes that this lead is being threatened by various factors. In this project, the focus shall be given to the following factors: first is the lack of interest of academically gifted graduating high school students toward the
“Grooming the New Breed of Leaders in the Seafaring Industry”
I Background
The Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) and International Shipping Federation (ISF) 2005 Update shows that in the year 2005, the world demand for seafarers was at 1,059,000. 476,000 of which were for officers while the remaining 586,000 were ratings. In the same year, the actual supply for officers was at 466,000 and supply of ratings was 721,000. Using these figures, it can be inferred that the crewing industry for seafarers has a deficit for officers’ supply amounting to 10,000 capable, certified and qualified individuals. This problem is foreseen to get worse in 2015 wherein there will be a net deficit of 25,000 officers and a net surplus of 167,000 ratings will be registered.
This deficit is threatening to get worse as the industry faces problems such as 25% of officers from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries such as USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Korea and Japan are said to be over 50 years old and 50% are over 40. Furthermore, relatively few officers from the Indian Sub-continent and South Korea remain at sea over the age of 50.
Despite this shortage of officers, the Philippines remains the dominant force in the shipping industry. As of 2003, 28.1% of all global crew on board are Filipinos compared to its closest rivals, Russia and Ukraine cornering 6.8% and 6.3% respectively. This can be attributed to “the competitive qualities of the Filipino seafarers, the sustained professional market-driven operations of the ship-crewing industry and the aggressive marketing thrust of the government.” (Santos, 2006)
However, the crewing industry nowadays realizes that this lead is being threatened by various factors. In this project, the focus shall be given to the following factors: first is the lack of interest of academically gifted graduating high school students toward the