Denmark reaffirmed its support for the efforts of the maritime industry of the Philippines to comply with the international naval standards as introduced by the Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping (STCW) Convention.
Through a Facebook post, Franz-Michael Mellbin, the Danish Ambassador, mentioned that Denmark is happy with Filipino maritime employees.
He reportedly hailed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s firm assurance that the Philippines would address noncompliance problems recognized by the audit conducted by the European Maritime Safety Agency or EMSA.
He also added that the failure to comply would significantly harm the whole maritime industry and the Philippines.
More specifically, Ambassador Mellbin noted that President Marcos’ firm assurance on the government of the Philippines’ intentions to resolve certification issues on his most recent visit to Belgium is a welcome development.
Earlier in 2022, EMSA had warned the Philippines for its deficiencies in the education, certification, and training of local seafarers. During a recent visit to Brussels, President Marcos reportedly reiterated that the administration would do all necessary to tackle the deficiencies to help avoid job losses among the Filipino seafarers deployed for the EU vessels.
Earlier in December, organisations representing seafarers, shipowners and other maritime employers, met with the Philippines’ President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr, as part of his foreign policy tour in Brussels.
President Marcos ordered a new advisory board to be made up of employers, shipowners and unions and the ILO, to give expert advice on major maritime issues.
In addition, reform was urged of the country’s seafarer claims industry where ambulance-chasing lawyers target seafarers in order to defraud employers.
More specifically, during the meeting, the top of the agenda was the immediate concern of employers and crew that as many as 50,000 seafarers faced being barred from crewing European Union-flagged vessels over qualification issues.
The Phil. Maritime Authority, and other governing bodies for Filipino seafarers ‘should have not waited years ago’ upon knowing that there were problems with seamanship training, watch standing, and other requirements that were not being met or complied upon as required by Europeab Maritme Agencies. But the time has come to correct all the noted deficiencies, and to continuously educate and train our seafarers without any reservations.
this is already going for more than a decade.
why you think now suddenly they will confirm to STCW?
I’m a master on a general cargo vessel, it’s all depending from what school they came from in the Philippines.