The audit is the second by EMSA this year and if the Philippines fails the audit 60,000 to 70,000 Filipino seafarers could be banned from working on EU-flagged ships.
EMSA first threatened to ban Filipino seafarers from EU-flagged ships in 2010 after a follow-up audit on a 2006 audit found recommendations on STCW compliance had not been implemented.
The audit in April this year is understood to have not gone as well the industry had hoped. Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) head Nicasio Conti, who had been tasked by the Philippines President Benigo Aquino to bring the Philippines into STCW compliance, was replaced in May by Maximo Q. Mejia, previously with the World Maritime University in Malmo, Sweden.
Local reports do not appear positive over the potential that the Philippines pass the STCW audit this week with Tinig Ng Marino, the newspaper of union United Filipino Seafarers (UFS) quoting sources as saying EMSA team reaction had been one of “disappointment”.
“It looks like we’re going to fail again. The fate of our seafarers is really worrisome,” an unnamed official was quoted as saying.
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