Shortage of deck officers, marine engineers hits domestic shipping

A group of cargo service providers in the domestic shipping industry has called on the government to reduce the required number of deck officers and marine engineers in a vessel because of shortage of qualified people to fill up these posts.

The United Trampers Association of the Philippines (UTAP), the exodus of local seafarers to jobs overseas had created a vacuum in the domestic shipping sector, which could no longer fill in the required manpower for their ships.

UTAP consists of cargo service providers that transport agricultural products, and construction supplies, among others.

Government laws mandate each of their domestic vessels to have three marine engineers and four deck officers, but UTAP said its members have a hard time complying with this now.

UTAP official Perfecto de los Reyes, in a press release sent to the Philippine Information Agency, said the group had requested the Maritime Industry Authority to reduce the requirement by one deck officer or one marine engineer.

De los Reyes said that most domestic shipping lines have seriously felt this year the problem of lack of qualified deck officers and engineers who have shunned local jobs for better jobs overseas.

Local firms could not compete however the drawing power of salary and benefits offered by shipping companies abroad, said de los Reyes, adding that the situation has in turn jeopardized the domestic shipping sector.

Marina-7 regional director Glenn Cabañez, for his part, said the problem raised by UTAP was already forwarded to their central office and that he has been waiting for a new circular that would resolve it. 

Cabañez admitted that the problem has been aggravated by some foreign shipping lines that have linked up with some local schools in the hiring of the latter’s nautical and marine graduates immediately after graduation.

Cabañez said that new graduates of nautical and marine engineering must first serve domestic shipping lines before they can be eligible for overseas employment.

All stakeholders in the shipping industry, including schools offering nautical and marine courses, should now discuss the local manpower shortage to come up with a new set of rules governing the number of crew members in a ship. — Ferliza C. Contratista/RAE