Rising number due to the skills and competence of the Filipino seafarers
The number of Filipino sailors working in the world’s merchant fleet is expected to hit 400,000 before the end of 2011.
Carlos Cao, Philippine Overseas Administration Office (POEA) administrator, attributed the rising number to the seamanship skills and competence of the Filipino seafarers.
“We are targeting to reach a 400,000-mark deployment of our seafarers overseas this year, and it is indeed, very encouraging, indications have surfaced that we may even surpass this target,” he added.
“In 2010, our deployment data for sea-based sector was 347,000 which was a 5.06-percent growth over the 2009 data, with an increase for land-based of 3.2 percent, showing a combined total of 1,470,826 deployment for that same year (2010), as compared to 1,422,586 in 2009, and 1,236,013 in 2008,” Cao emphasized.
The POEA chief also said seafarer remittance for January to July 2011 has already reached the USD11.4 billion or a 6.3-percent increase over the same January to July 2010 figure of USD10.679 billion.
Source: PhilSTAR