MANILA - What global crisis?

While other sectors are taking a beating from the lingering economic crisis, the local maritime industry seems to have been spared from the impact of massive unemployment and downsizing.

On a daily basis, about a thousand jobs are waiting to be filled up in different foreign vessels for local seafarers who enjoy high reputation abroad for being skilled workers.

“Over the last two years, the global maritime industry’s choice for Filipino seafarers has continued, and it will never face a bleak future if you look into the official running count of available jobs being offered to them everyday,” said lawyer Giovanni Lopez, over-all president of the Luneta Seafarer’s Center.

Lopez said employment opportunities—from captains to ratings—are available for local hires at an average rate of 1,000 daily.

Hiring hits

Among the applicants, he said, the “hatch” or on-the-spot hiring hits 60 percent or 600 seafarers finding a job at the end of the day. There are days also when hiring peaks at 800 each day.

Salvador Santos, assistant general manager of the Luneta Seafarer’s Center, said majority of those hired are deployed to Europe and Japan. 

Santos said higher marine positions like captains fetch as high as $11,000 a month in Europe to as low as $6,000 in Japan. He asked that government continue with its training and education programs for seamen to enable them to apply for higher positions. Seamen are also covered by government licensure examinations.

The steady demand and hiring of Filipino seafarers, Lopez said, underscores the Philippines' position as the biggest source of maritime manpower in the global market even at this time of an economic downturn.

There are about 350,000 Filipino seamen manning tankers, passenger vessels and luxury liners, roughly 20% of the world's supply of seafarers.

Boom continues 
 
Lopez said the maritime industry would continue with its boom cycle as new vessels will be constructed until 2012. This would certainly create more job employment opportunities for various positions--from ship captains, marine deck officers, chief engineers, cooks, stewards, and other maritime crews.

Lopez urged seamen scouting for jobs to take advantage of the daily job fair being held at the Luneta  Seafarer’s Center.

The Luneta Seafarer’s Center is two-storey facility on a 2,516-square meter government property. It provides a variety of services to seafarers in the area from dormitory, 112 manning and shipping information booths, medical mission to free legal advice.
 
On top of this, it houses satellite offices of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), the government agencies relevant to the processing of employment documents for seamen.
 
“These government agencies directly concerned with the welfare of Filipino seafarers have played a major role towards our goal of making Luneta a one-stop center for all the needs of our seafarers,” Lopez added.
 
President Arroyo herself formally opened the facility as government’s contribution to the seafaring community, and to ensure the protection Filipino seafarers aboard various foreign vessels.