During the first SAFETY4SEA Forum in Manila, Leo M. Bolivar, Country Manager, International Registries (Far East) Limited, which provides administrative and technical support to the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) Registry, noted that global demand for competent seafarers has been constantly growing over the years with shortage expected to peak in the next five years. He then described how the RMI Registry together with other industry stakeholders is proactively developing future seafarers through its work at the IMO, as well as human resources programs on education, training, and experience to produce quality crew for safer ships.
The 2015 global supply of seafarers was estimated at 1,647,500 seafarers, of which 774,000 were officers and 873,500 were ratings. The 2015 global demand for seafarers was estimated at 1,545,000 seafarers, with the industry requiring approximately 790,500 officers and 754,500 ratings.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
The current situation indicates a shortage of 16,500 officers and a surplus of 119,000 ratings, with an overall surplus of 102,500 seafarers. The five most common countries of origin for officers are: China, Philippines, India, Indonesia, and the Russian Federation. The five most common countries of origin for ratings are: Philippines, China, Indonesia, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine. Shortage of officers by 2025 is estimated to be 147,500 or 18.3% from 2.1% in 2015.
The RMI has a program to develop and review IMO regulations and conventions, as well as continuous review of STCW. We issue seafarers’ identification and record books (SIRBs), making sure that we have the firm minimum safe manning levels according to the vessel’s size, propulsion, and type. We also oversee training and accreditation of training centers.
In terms of seafarers’ training, many companies and training centers in Manila have been accredited under the RMI training program. We are continuously monitoring the activities of the training centers ensuring that whatever the product of those training centers, quality and competency will always come first.
There are a great many Filipino seafarers serving onboard RMI-flagged vessels. Regarding Officer certificates issued by nationality, the Philippines has the most officers holding an RMI certificate followed by India.
The seafarers’ documentation growth has been enormous for the past several years although it has dropped down a little recently due to market factors. In 2017, we had the largest growth in terms of documents issued globally, mainly because of the implementation of the STCW Manila amendments. We currently have quite a large number of Filipino seafarers serving on RMI flagged vessels.
The Philippines supplies the most seafarers for RMI vessels, around 105,000. Almost half of the population of the Philippine’s seafarers are holders of an active RMI SIRB.
Port State control (PSC) will check the compliance of the seafarers so when you are sending seafarers onboard make sure that the crew has the proper certificates and endorsements from the flag State.
The inspectors may also randomly check the competence of the seafarers by asking questions related to their capacity and their experience. PSC will check on the proficiency and abilities of the seafarers. Inspectors may ask to conduct fire, rescue, and abandon ship drills and expect that the crew will be able to perform properly on short notice, making sure that everyone is aware of their job onboard in terms of safety.
Overall the flag State’s role is to help prevent accidents and incidents and help the operators to comply with the requirements and specifications of national and international regulations. We regularly conduct quality control boardings (QCBs) and annual safety inspections (ASIs) to help assure that everything is in place before the vessel is inspected by PSC.
During the QCBs and ASIs we also check on the crew welfare with respect to the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006.
Quality and Safety are the main priorities of the RMI Registry!
Above text is an edited version of Leo M. Bolivar’s presentation during the 2019 SAFETY4SEA Manila Forum.
You may view his presentation herebelow
The views presented hereabove are only those of the author and not necessarily those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
About Leo M. Bolivar
Mr. Bolivar joined IRI in August 2015 as Office Manager for the newly opened office in Manila, Philippines and was promoted to Country Head of the Philippines in 2016. Prior to joining IRI, Mr. Bolivar worked for Navis Maritime Services, Inc., where he served on the Board of Directors and most recently held the position of Senior Executive Vice President and General Manager, where he was responsible for the management of day-to-day administrative operations. Additionally, in this role he oversaw internal and external audits and assisted in the development and implementation of compliance with key corporate, legal, and regulatory requirements. Mr. Bolivar has also held the positions of Director, Corporate Treasurer and Vice President for Administration with Crossbow Outsourcing Inc, Director and Head of Administration at Ulstein Marine Services, AS, and Owner’s Representative and Consultant at Uljanik Plovidba d.d. Mr. Bolivar has also worked as an Executive Assistant to the Owner’s Representative at Stolt-Nielsen Philippines Inc., where he was responsible for the evaluation of cadet performance and crew onboard vessels. Mr. Bolivar is a member of the Philippines Norway Business Council, Filipino Association for Mariners’ Employment, Inc., Philippine Association of Manning Agencies and Shipmanagers, Inc., the International Maritime Association of the Philippines, and the Joint Manning Group.
