The Philippines underwent two audits by EMSA of its compliance with STCW Convention last year and failed to meet the required standards on maritime training.
“As a result of the country’s failure in two audits by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), education and training certificates issued by the Philippine government to seafarers will soon no longer be honored by EU ship owners and regulators,” UFS president Nelson Ramirez said in a statement.
The EMSA audit process has dragged on since 2006, with the Philippines failing multiple audits, and now faces the prospect of a long-threatened ban of its officers from EU-flagged ships becoming a reality.
Industry groups had asked EMSA for another year to prove the country’s latest round of reforms were working bringing all powers relating to certification under the Maritime Industrial Authority (Marina), however, that bid would appear to have failed.
“It is something that cannot be negotiated. It is a technical issue, and what the EU was doing was regular verification or audit of the state of technical and legal preparedness of seafarers’ education system in countries which have seafarers working on EU-flagged ships,” EU Transport Commissioner Maximilian Strotmann was quoted as saying by the Philippines Star.
“The future looks dim. We have been calling the attention of Marina to improve maritime education, but we are being ignored,” Ramirez said.
UFS has started an online poll calling for the resignation of the head of the Marina Maximo Mejia. Roughly 80,000 Filipino seafarers serve on EU-flagged vessels.
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