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Feature: Filipinos’ sea of troubles
The typhoon that wreaked destruction in The Philippines earlier this month left many of the country’s far-flung seafarers either fearing the worst or hearing nothing of it.
Stories of the deadly havoc in the typhoon’s path were matched by tales of crews coming ashore either half-informed or unaware but in both cases desperate to contact families in the disaster area. Welfare centres, ship owners and unions stepped in to provide what help they could.
A natural disaster in The Philippines in which over 5,000 are thought to have died should not, unlike that in Japan in 2011, have an impact on global shipping. The country is insignificant in terms of world trade, with an economy – albeit resilient during the global recession – ranked 165th in GDP per capita terms.
Yet over the last few decades this archipelago of over 7,000 islands has become the biggest supplier of manpower to shipping. Filipino seafarers are not only numerous but widespread, to be found on virtually anything that floats. For many Filipinos – from the Master of a large tanker to a deckhand on an offshore supply vessel in the North Sea – are the crew of choice.
Statistics from The Philippines Government put the number of seafarers working on foreign-flag ships in 2011 at 369,104 (266,553 in 2007), broken down into 140,681 ratings and 90,506 officers, while the remaining 136,971 are classed as “non-marine”. The last group are presumably hotel and catering staff working predominantly on cruise ships who, under the Maritime Labour Convention’s definition, will have been re-designated as “seafarers”.
These figures mean seafarers, or “sea-based workers” as the Central Bank of The Philippines (CBP) prefers to categorise them, make up less than 5% of the estimated 10 million Filipinos working abroad but, at USD 4.8 billion, almost a quarter of the USD 21 billion in total 2012 remittances – a reflection, perhaps, of the higher earnings at sea.
The US is the biggest source of remittances, accounting for almost half of the total last year, with sea-based workers sending home USD 2.7 billion. Since, however, the US-flag merchant navy is manned exclusively by Americans, the payments are likely made by employers of Filipinos working on foreign-flag ships routeing payments via US banks.
The European Union (EU) is another major source of remittances at USD 3.2 billion last year, with sea-based workers accounting for USD 1.2 billion. Within the EU the UK is the biggest at USD 1 billion (sea-based USD 350 million). Filipinos are now the largest foreign nationality holding Certificates of Equivalent Competence (CECs) entitling them to work on UK-flag ships. At the beginning of this year there were 1,940 officers, accounting for 16% of all CEC-holding foreign nationals (followed by Poles, Ukrainians and Russians), according to UK Department for Transport statistics.
The importance of the EU to Filipino fortunes goes some way to explaining the palpitations in the Asian country at the possibility of de-recognition of its seafarer certificates. The fear that at a stroke thousands of jobs on EU-flag ships could be lost has hung like the sword of Damocles over the country for over a year.
The findings of an audit last month of The Philippines’ seafarer training system – its colleges and central administration – by the European Maritime Safety Agency are expected to be considered by the European Commission (EC) early next year. The EC could recommend to member states de-recognition or – perhaps with some caveats – recognition be maintained.
As if to remind The Philippines Brussels has the power to do so, last week the EC announced that Georgia had regained recognition after being de-recognised in November 2010 following a similar audit that found failings in the country’s oversight of its colleges and “an extended problem with forged certificates”. Georgia, however, remained on the “white list” of countries approved by the International Maritime Organization.
In seafarer numbers Georgia is, of course, not The Philippines, but “too big to fail” may not be applicable when it comes to maritime safety. If the EC recommends de-recognition of The Philippines, the interesting question is what the UK and other EU members with substantial numbers of Filipino officers on their ships will do.
Many of those Filipino seafarers at risk of losing their jobs on EU-flag ships might be unaware of such deliberations in Brussels. What the aftermath of the typhoon revealed was how many appeared to have been oblivious to the news until their ship docked in some distant port.
In today’s world of 24-hour news and virtually instant communications it would surprise many ashore that anyone could not know about an event of such magnitude, particularly if it happened in their own country. Stories from across the world have, however, revealed how Filipino seafarers who did not know of the typhoon until they came ashore have been helped to get in touch with their families – often in seafarers’ welfare centres with internet or telephone facilities.
Even on ships with the right facilities there might have been a temptation to hold the news back – at least until they had docked. Managers ashore and Masters in the know might have had to make the choice – bearing in mind the possible effects on morale of either bad or incomplete news – to allow crews to “phone home” or to maintain a judicious silence. Even when crews could call home, however, there was no guarantee they could get through due to the damage to local communications infrastructure.
Where news was available, it proved distressing for some to learn that, while their families may have survived the typhoon’s impact, they were struggling in the aftermath to find food, water or shelter. Some of those desperate to return were granted compassionate leave by employers, but some were unable to do so.
When worse things happen not at sea but ashore and affected seafarers are, in a supposedly connected world, the last to know, the choice between too much and too little information is, as they say, one between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Source: BIMCO
Stories of the deadly havoc in the typhoon’s path were matched by tales of crews coming ashore either half-informed or unaware but in both cases desperate to contact families in the disaster area. Welfare centres, ship owners and unions stepped in to provide what help they could.
A natural disaster in The Philippines in which over 5,000 are thought to have died should not, unlike that in Japan in 2011, have an impact on global shipping. The country is insignificant in terms of world trade, with an economy – albeit resilient during the global recession – ranked 165th in GDP per capita terms.
Yet over the last few decades this archipelago of over 7,000 islands has become the biggest supplier of manpower to shipping. Filipino seafarers are not only numerous but widespread, to be found on virtually anything that floats. For many Filipinos – from the Master of a large tanker to a deckhand on an offshore supply vessel in the North Sea – are the crew of choice.
Statistics from The Philippines Government put the number of seafarers working on foreign-flag ships in 2011 at 369,104 (266,553 in 2007), broken down into 140,681 ratings and 90,506 officers, while the remaining 136,971 are classed as “non-marine”. The last group are presumably hotel and catering staff working predominantly on cruise ships who, under the Maritime Labour Convention’s definition, will have been re-designated as “seafarers”.
These figures mean seafarers, or “sea-based workers” as the Central Bank of The Philippines (CBP) prefers to categorise them, make up less than 5% of the estimated 10 million Filipinos working abroad but, at USD 4.8 billion, almost a quarter of the USD 21 billion in total 2012 remittances – a reflection, perhaps, of the higher earnings at sea.
The US is the biggest source of remittances, accounting for almost half of the total last year, with sea-based workers sending home USD 2.7 billion. Since, however, the US-flag merchant navy is manned exclusively by Americans, the payments are likely made by employers of Filipinos working on foreign-flag ships routeing payments via US banks.
The European Union (EU) is another major source of remittances at USD 3.2 billion last year, with sea-based workers accounting for USD 1.2 billion. Within the EU the UK is the biggest at USD 1 billion (sea-based USD 350 million). Filipinos are now the largest foreign nationality holding Certificates of Equivalent Competence (CECs) entitling them to work on UK-flag ships. At the beginning of this year there were 1,940 officers, accounting for 16% of all CEC-holding foreign nationals (followed by Poles, Ukrainians and Russians), according to UK Department for Transport statistics.
The importance of the EU to Filipino fortunes goes some way to explaining the palpitations in the Asian country at the possibility of de-recognition of its seafarer certificates. The fear that at a stroke thousands of jobs on EU-flag ships could be lost has hung like the sword of Damocles over the country for over a year.
The findings of an audit last month of The Philippines’ seafarer training system – its colleges and central administration – by the European Maritime Safety Agency are expected to be considered by the European Commission (EC) early next year. The EC could recommend to member states de-recognition or – perhaps with some caveats – recognition be maintained.
As if to remind The Philippines Brussels has the power to do so, last week the EC announced that Georgia had regained recognition after being de-recognised in November 2010 following a similar audit that found failings in the country’s oversight of its colleges and “an extended problem with forged certificates”. Georgia, however, remained on the “white list” of countries approved by the International Maritime Organization.
In seafarer numbers Georgia is, of course, not The Philippines, but “too big to fail” may not be applicable when it comes to maritime safety. If the EC recommends de-recognition of The Philippines, the interesting question is what the UK and other EU members with substantial numbers of Filipino officers on their ships will do.
Many of those Filipino seafarers at risk of losing their jobs on EU-flag ships might be unaware of such deliberations in Brussels. What the aftermath of the typhoon revealed was how many appeared to have been oblivious to the news until their ship docked in some distant port.
In today’s world of 24-hour news and virtually instant communications it would surprise many ashore that anyone could not know about an event of such magnitude, particularly if it happened in their own country. Stories from across the world have, however, revealed how Filipino seafarers who did not know of the typhoon until they came ashore have been helped to get in touch with their families – often in seafarers’ welfare centres with internet or telephone facilities.
Even on ships with the right facilities there might have been a temptation to hold the news back – at least until they had docked. Managers ashore and Masters in the know might have had to make the choice – bearing in mind the possible effects on morale of either bad or incomplete news – to allow crews to “phone home” or to maintain a judicious silence. Even when crews could call home, however, there was no guarantee they could get through due to the damage to local communications infrastructure.
Where news was available, it proved distressing for some to learn that, while their families may have survived the typhoon’s impact, they were struggling in the aftermath to find food, water or shelter. Some of those desperate to return were granted compassionate leave by employers, but some were unable to do so.
When worse things happen not at sea but ashore and affected seafarers are, in a supposedly connected world, the last to know, the choice between too much and too little information is, as they say, one between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Source: BIMCO
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