RP shipping sector behind by 10 years, says WG&A exec

The local shipping industry is at least 10 years behind the global maritime community, according to WG&A president and CEO Enrique Aboitiz Jr.

Aboitiz said that while the local shipping industry is still mapping out plans to catch up with the global maritime community, "other maritime nations are simply on to another phase."

"The Philippine shipping industry is not part of the revolution that is happening abroad because of the ‘old thinking’ and regulated minds,’" Aboitiz said.

He also said that while the Philippines is regaling itself with being home to highly skilled seafarers, it is not doing anything to improve its technology and "thinking."

The shipping executive also said that the local industry is still plagued by "old thinking" which prevents the industry from moving forward.

Bureaucratic red tape and senseless debates over turf among government agencies tasked to oversee the maritime industry are among the major reasons why the industry continues to retrogress, Aboitiz said.

The debates over jurisdiction on the enforcement of the Standards Training Certification and Watch Keeping Convention (STCW) and the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) took more than a decade, while other maritime nations were already in the list of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Aboitiz said that among the biggest remnants of the old thinking is the government’s continued stranglehold on shipping routes that should have long been liberalized for competition.

He stressed that until now no shipping company could set sail on a short haul route without going through government bureaucratic red tape process of maritime agencies like the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) and the Philippine Ports Authority.

But MARINA said that it has further strengthened maritime safety, provided assistance to small vessel operators, optimized operations of domestic vessels and enhanced shipbuilding and repairs.