Of fair winds and following seas

September 28 (or the last Thursday of September) is World Maritime Day!

Now, it may seem very trivial to many, but the sea and all who traverse it are close to my heart because I grew up around the maritime industry.

My mother has been working for a ship management and crewing company for the last 37 years, and nearly every day since two weeks after I was born, I have spent my time in her office, conversing with many a seafarer, veteran and novice alike. My mother likes to brag about me to her friends in the industry saying that despite my age, I am very much “marinated”. And I myself would like to believe that I am. After all, I was named after a cruise ship whose maiden voyage was the same year I was born, of which my mother was in charge of crewing at that time, the 1992 MV Crystal Harmony. In 2007, when my mother’s company established the NYK-TDG Maritime Academy (NTMA) in Canlubang, Laguna, a world-class merchant marine academy which would take in some 120 cadets from all over the country every year, my teenage self would look up to my new big brothers, clad in their white, pressed cadets’ uniforms. Even today, most of the cadets and graduates of the Academy have become some of my very best friends, people who I can no longer imagine living my life without. And because I grew up around seafarers and loved ones of seafarers and people who work for and with seafarers, I am familiar with the struggle of our men and women out at sea.

The traditional perception of seafarers is not really a wholesome one. Their reputation is mired by stories of girls at every port, big and high-rolling spending back home, and extravagant gifts and jewelry to the chosen few who become wives or husbands of seafarers. But, in the 25 years I have had a personal relationship with seafarers, there are only about one or two whose stories are like this. Most, if not all, of the men and women I know have vastly different experiences. Many of the older seafarers I know have been duped into believing that seafaring promise of being able to buy a two-story house and lot, and expensive jewelry for their wives, only to come home with more debt than when they left, because of their family’s mismanagement of their finances, or improper pay of shady agencies in the country. Most of my friends on board have a hard time coping, not only with sea sickness, but with home sickness as well, aggravated by the long travels out at sea and the difficulties of getting along with people of different races, cultures, and languages. And still, others who have a dream of becoming a seafarer someday simply cannot afford to even finish their studies or fund their shipboard training. So, the life of a seafarer isn’t all that glamorous as the stories make it out to be.

But the profession is, I believe, one of the noblest among all the professions. In a survey conducted by the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) in 2015, out of the 1.5 million seafarers in the world, 25% are Filipinos on board foreign vessels. We are the number one supplier of ratings in the world’s fleet, and second only to China in the supply of officers. Filipino seafarers are the preferred nationality on board foreign-flag vessels because we are known for our technical competence, loyalty, resilience, and communication skills. Our seafarers work hard, day and night, 24/7, missing holidays, and Christmases, and graduations, and birthdays with their families, all to bring us the latest cars and laptops and cell phones in record time. They keep world trade going, but in turn, I have to ask, what keeps THEM going?

Thankfully, the Philippine maritime industry, composed of both private and public companies and institutions, seems to share the same sentiments as I do, especially considering that there are about 358,898 Filipino seafarers (Depasupil, 2016). Led by the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), a government agency under the supervision of the Department of Transportation, in cooperation with the Department of Labor (DOLE) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the maritime community in the Philippines continues to develop and strengthen policies that govern the education, recruitment, deployment, and employment of the millions of Filipino seafarers. Because of their vigilance and their eagerness to be of service to the community, our seafarers are able to live a life of dignity.

To provide evidence to this, allow me to outline the efforts of the Philippine maritime community in relation to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace’s, Six Practical Principles for Business, in their publication “The Vocation of a Business Leader: A Reflection” (2012), which I believe the Philippine Maritime Industry is well on their way to fulfilling.

Meeting the needs of the world through the creation and development of goods and services

1. Businesses that produce goods which are truly good and services which truly serve contribute to the common good.

To begin with, world trade is about 90% driven by sea-going vessels. There are many different types of ships for different types of cargo – pure car and truck carriers for automobiles; tankers for liquid petroleum or natural gas; bulk carriers for raw materials such as coal, wood chips, and salt; and containers for all other consumer goods, such as toys, electronics, and clothing. All of these are goods which the world needs in order to function, some more than others. More importantly, the service that these ships provide, particularly by seafarers, is the safe custodianship and transportation of these items, so that countries may supply its people with energy for electricity, or families can visit each other despite the long distances, and a kid can enjoy his toy car in time for Christmas.

Being the world’s number one supplier of seafarers, the Philippine maritime community contributes greatly to the fulfillment of this principle.

2. Businesses maintain solidarity with the poor by being alert for opportunities to serve otherwise deprived and under-served populations and people in need.

While seafarers are known to earn a considerable amount of money, and in foreign currency no less, the price of the process of becoming a seafarer is steep. Tuition in the country’s best Academies costs a limb and a half, and vacations are often riddled with various mandatory training programs, all at the expense of the seafarer. To ease the cost of becoming a seafarer, and because they recognized the need to be of service to the Filipino worker, NTMA was the first to put in place a “Study-Now-Pay-Later” program, where poor but deserving students are allowed to complete their maritime studies on a loan payable by reasonable monthly salary deductions as soon as they begin to earn on board ship. Other maritime schools and academies began to follow suit. Aside from this, many other institutions have extended a helping hand to maritime students. The Development Bank of the Philippines, for example, offers a DBP Endowment for Education Program (DEEP) Scholarship to seafarers, and many other students in various vocations, allowing them to complete their studies.

Organizing good and productive work

3. Businesses make a contribution to the community by fostering the special dignity of human work. And,

4. Businesses provide, through subsidiarity, opportunities for employees to exercise appropriate authority as they contribute to the mission of the organisation.

The life of a seafarer on board is far from glamorous. They are confined in tight quarters, often only a few square meters just enough for a place to sleep and do work. They cannot be choosy as to their food as they are limited to whatever provisions are available in the galley. And, besides work, there is little to no recreational activities available on board to ease their homesick hearts. The International Labor Organization (ILO) recognized seafarers to be an underserved sector of the workforce, and developed the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) of 2006, an international agreement to protect seafarers’ rights, such as the right to fair recruitment and placement, the right to complain on board and on shore, the right to employment agreement, the right to regulated hours for work and rest, the right to decent accommodation and recreational facilities on board, and the right to good quality food and drinking water. To pass, the MLC needed 30 member countries to register its ratification of the Convention. On the 20th of August 2012, the Philippines, following a unanimous decision from both Legislative Houses, became the 30th country to ratify the MLC, finally enabling this historic Convention to come into fruition.

Since then, the Philippine government has been very supportive of the country’s efforts to comply with the requirements of the Convention, such as streamlining all government-related processes for seafarers under one governing body, the MARINA; developing guidelines for the authorization of inspection of Philippine-registered ships; and, issuing rules and regulations on the employment of Filipino seafarers onboard both domestic and international ships.

Creating sustainable wealth and distributing it justly

5. Businesses model stewardship of the resources – whether capital, human, or environmental – they have received. And,

6. Businesses are just in the allocation of resources to all stakeholders: employees, customers, investors, suppliers, and the community.

In 2014, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) expressed concern over the quality of education and training Filipino seafarers receive in the country, and issued a statement saying that it would suspend the accreditation of Filipino seafarers working on board European vessels. This was in response to a series of audits conducted by EMSA where it found Philippine schools’ curriculum, training, faculty and staff, and facilities to be substandard, stating that the country’s maritime higher education institutions (MHEIs) were not doing enough to comply with international standards, which the Philippines had just ratified two years prior. Not only were the schools’ training facilities old, beaten, and misused, student welfare was also often ignored and taken for granted, where they were often times harassed and mistreated, hazing was tolerated, and classroom instruction was not taken seriously.

Aside from this, another challenge of maritime cadets is CHED’s requirement for a specific amount of time for training on board a ship. According to CHED Memorandum Order No. 2 Series of 2012, pursuant to the Standards for Training Certification, and Watchkeeping (STCW) for Seafarers 1978, an international Convention of which the Philippines is a signatory, to qualify to become an Officer-in-Charge of a watch, a cadet must complete at least 12 months of apprenticeship work under the tutelage of a qualified officer or engineer, or 36 months of general purpose and apprenticeship work under the tutelage of a qualified officer or engineer. The difficulty for cadets in the Philippines, however, is that many MHEIs in the country are unable to guarantee shipboard training to its students because the school itself does not own its own vessels, nor is it connected to any ship management or crewing company that can take in cadets aboard their vessels. And because this is mandatory prior to graduation and acquiring a license, many maritime students are unable to graduate because of their inability to complete this requirement. This is unfair to the maritime cadets who have spent time and money to complete their degrees only to not end up being able to graduate and pursue their careers.

EMSA’s statement threatened the contracts and employment of some 90,000 Filipino seafarers deployed onboard European-flag vessels.

In response to this, the Philippine maritime industry, headed by MARINA and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), met with its counterparts in the private sector, ship owners, maritime school administrators, industry experts, and ship management companies, to form a technical working group that would develop a set of guidelines for compliance for MHEIs. Of the 93 MHEIs that were open in 2014, about 40 of them were ordered closed for noncompliance to the international standard. With this overhaul, MARINA mandated MHEIs to create strategies to guarantee shipboard training to its enrollees, or risk foreclosure. Because of this, maritime schools who did not already offer shipboard training were forced to partner with ship management companies to take in cadets in their training programs. Moreover, since the assignment of MARINA to be the sole governing body over the maritime sector, there has been more focus and regulation over MHEIs’ compliance of the STCW.

Earlier this year, EMSA returned to the Philippines for a follow-up audit, their first time back since 2014. MARINA and other industry leaders have expressed their confidence that the international body will find vast improvements in the maritime education system in the country. We are all hoping for the best!

I am proud of what the Philippine maritime industry has become. We have truly come a long way from the old perception of what seafaring is. But, we still have much work to do. While we continue to lead in the deployment of seafarers all over the world, we are still far behind in meeting the needs of our brave Filipino seafarers. In order to protect their human dignity, we must also empower them to believe that they have a bigger role in society as well. Soon, our seafarers will also be educators, administrators, and industry leaders to a new breed of Filipino seafarers. And our hope is that when that time comes, we can provide a better standard and quality of life for them onboard, having learned from the mistakes of the past.

To my brothers out at sea, what we do we do it for you. In exchange for your hard work, loyalty, dedication, and sacrifice, we can only promise that we too will do everything we can to bring you all home safe and sound.

Sail on, brothers! Fair winds and following seas!

REFERENCES:

Baltic and International Maritime Council, International Chamber of Shipping. (2015). Manpower report: the global supply and demand for seafarers in 2015. Retrieved on 27 September 2017 from https://www.bimco.org/-/media/bimco/news-and-trends/news/crew-support/2016/manpower_report_2015_executive_summary_final.ashx.

Commission on Higher Education. (2012). Ched memorandum order no. 2 series of 2012: implementing guidelines on the shipboard training requirement for the bachelor of science in marine transportation and bachelor of science in marine engineering programs. Retrieved on 27 September 2017 from http://www.fairship.com.ph/sites/default/files/CHED% 20CMO%20No.%202%20Series%20of%202012.pdf.

Department of Labor and Employment. (2014). Dole gives updates on implementation of maritime labour convention 2006. Retrieved on 27 September 2017 from http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2014/08/20/dole-gives-updates-on-implementation-of-maritime-labour-convention-2006/.

Depasupil, W. (2016). Filipino seafarers top choice. Retrieved on 27 September 2017 from http://www.manilatimes.net/filipino-seafarers-top-choice/259323/.

Fernandez, A. (2014). Ched, marina to close substandard maritime schools in january. Retrieved on 27 September 2017 from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/pinoyabroad/388817/ched-marina-to-close-substandard-maritime-schools-in-january/story/.

Hughes, D. (2017). Philippines maritime training schools to be inspected by emsa in march. Retrieved on 27 September 2017 from https://fairplay.ihs.com/safety-regulation/article/4281636/philippines-maritime-training-schools-to-be-inspected-by-emsa-in-march.

International Chamber of Shipping. (2017). Global supply and demand for seafarers. Retrieved on 27 September 2017 from http://www.ics-shipping.org/shipping-facts/shipping-and-world-trade/global-supply-and-demand-for-seafarers.

International Labor Organization (2012). Philippines ratification marks global milestone for decent work for seafarers. Retrieved on 27 September 2017 from http://www.ilo.org/global/standards/maritime-labour-convention/WCMS_187712/lang–en/index.htm.

International Maritime Organization. (2001). International convention on standards of training, certification, and watchkeeping for seafarers 1978, as amended in 1995 and 1992 and seafarers’ training, certification, and watchkeeping code. Retrieved on 27 September 2017 from http://www.saturatore.it/Diritto/STCW95.pdf.

Kennedy, R.G. (2012). The vocation of the business leader. Retrieved on 27 September 2017 from http://www.uca.edu.ar/uca/common/grupo83/files/6-_Kennedy.pdf.

Lucas, D.L. (2015). Seafarers’ day: ph is world’s manning capital. Retrieved on 27 September 2017 from http://globalnation.inquirer.net/125167/seafarers-day-ph-is-worlds-manning-capital.

No Author. (2017). Amosup confident ph will hurdle emsa 2017 audit on stcw compliance. Retrieved on 27 September 2017 from https://business.mb.com.ph/2017/03/22/amosup-confident-ph-will-hurdle-emsa-2017-audit-on-stcw-compliance/.

Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. (2012). Vocation of the business leader: a reflection. Retrieved on 27 September 2017 from http://www.pcgp.it/dati/2012-05/04-999999/Vocation%20ENG2.pdf.

Seafarers’ Rights International. (2016). Seafarers’ rights under the mlc: key facts. Retrieved on 27 September 2017 from http://seafarersrights.org/seafarers-rights-under-the-mlc-key-facts/.