University of Cebu

"In the future, there will probably be not enough qualified officers to meet the demand from the global shipping industry towards the year 2012 and we should do something together to change this situation from happening," mulled the Norwegian Training Center - Manila Director Odd Magne Skei in an interview.
Skei said that on 2012, the global shipping industry will be in dire need for newcomers in the maritime field as shipowners from the global shipping industry is projected to acquire more than 7,000 new vessels during the period.
Another factor for the huge demand that Skei pointed out is that many marine officers are now nearing the retirement age which makes it all the more important to look out for replacements.
"The combination of these factors makes it more difficult and challenging on our part to cope up with the huge demand. The supply will be limited because the demand will be very high."
Approximately 8,000 to 10,000 slots for new officers and cadets both on deck and on the engine will be needed by the industry during 2012.
And so, to be able to meet the projected demand of Filipino seafarers, NTC-M is targeting to produce about 700 maritime graduates a year in the country.
Skei stressed that the demand for Filipino seafarers are bigger due to the demand from the shipowners themselves. He noted that shipowners from different nations have high regard for the abilities of Filipino maritime cadets and said that most of them will prefer to hire Filipino crew in their ships because of their skills, dedication and work ethics.
He also revealed that there are many Filipinos nowadays who are taking management and chief engineer positions in the field, unlike before.
"Policies of companies these days have already changed. They are no longer looking for nationality but are more preferring quality."
Despite the continuous increase in the price of oil these days, Skei underscored that "we are still bullish with the shipping industry despite the problem on oil prices because more and more global industries from the export and import are patronizing the industry for the shipment of their goods and so the growth of the industry will continue until 2015."