South Africa has the potential to become a global supplier of high-quality, highly-skilled ship’s officers, according to Daniel Ngubane, the newly appointed Group CEO of Marine Crew Services (MCS), the Cape Town-based training and crewing specialist
“South African seafarers are highly sought after internationally and demand for senior officers is particularly high. This, combined with the country’s world-class training and certification standards, provides an ideal opportunity for South Africa to play a more active role in the global seafarer supply market.”
Mr Ngubane says the South African Government has already taken significant steps, through its Operation Phakisa initiative, to grow the country’s participation in the global maritime economy.
“We believe there is enormous potential for MCS to support Governmental aims by increasing the number of trainee seafarers, as well as the number of training berths made available to them.”
One of MCS’s strategic objectives is to increase the number of training berths in 2016 in order to reduce the number of young South Africans who, having completed their theoretical training, are lost to the industry because they are unable to obtain practical, sea time experience.
Operation Phakisa, or the Oceans Economy initiative, is also expected to lead the changes in the South African Ships Register.
According to Ngubane, “The Government, in recognising the potential of the industry, is considering a number of incentives aimed at making the South African ship register sought-after internationally and ultimately, stimulating increased training and employment opportunities for local seafarers.”
Source: Marine Crew Services
