THE prospects for Filipino seafarers to keep their competitive advantage as the most sought-after over other seafarers in the global shipping industry amid pandemic is high in view of government priority mass vaccination against COVID-19 of seamen as essential workers.
The statement was made by Associated Philippine Seafarers’ Union (APSU) in the light of the government’s continuing vaccination Tuesday of at least 500 union members at Taguig City Vaccination Hub in BGC with industry preferred Pfizer and Moderna vaccine brands.
APSU is affiliated with the country’s largest group of unions the Associated Labor Unions (ALU) and the biggest labor center Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).
“With the continuing government mass vaccination of our seafarers against COVID-19, we are hopeful that the Filipino seafarers can keep its competitive advantage in the global shipping industry as preferred seafarer over other nationals because the Philippine government is prioritizing them as essential workers in its vaccination rollout against COVID-19,” said Gerard Seno, APSU National Executive Vice President.
The other foreign nationals competing for work in merchant ships are from China, Russia, India, Indonesia, and Ukraine.
The Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) estimates there are 730,600 Filipino seafarers.
According to the global union federation, the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), Filipino seafarers are the backbone of the global shipping industry with 25 percent of the 1.7 million marine workers in 51,400 cruise and merchant ships transporting oil, food, medicines, and other essential products to and from different parts before the pandemic.
Filipino seafarers are preferred by shipowners and manning agencies because they have a legacy for being hardworking, multi-skilled, and professional workers. However, due to the pandemic restrictions, Filipino seafarers’ deployment dropped by 54 percent from 470,000 in 2019 to 252,000 in 2020, according to MARINA.
However, Chinese seafarers are 1,717,000.
With the pandemic quarantine restrictions and lockdowns that increased the cost of hiring Filipino seafarers, our market was seriously challenged by competition from Vietnam, China, Myanmar, Indonesia, and Eastern Europe. Strict lockdown procedures prevented the change of crew members with only about 25 percent of a normal crew change.
Seafarers stranded onboard ships were forced to sign contract extensions and work during the duration of the lockdown. The usual tour of duty normally runs between 4-10 months but in many cases, our seafarers were kept onboard on extended contracts–some lasting 14 months to 18 months– thereby exposing themselves to physical and mental fatigue with accompanying risk to themselves, their fellow seafarers and their vessel.
In worst case situations, many of our seafarers who cannot board ships due to strict vaccination travel protocols lost their jobs as they could not get on board.
For his part, TUCP Party-list Representative and TUCP President Raymond Mendoza expressed gratitude to Taguig City Mayor Lino Cayetano for recognizing the contribution of seafarers in prioritizing their vaccination in the city vaccination program.
Filipino seafarers contribute significantly to the global supply chain and help keep our local economy afloat through the financial remittances to their families back home. They are grateful to Mayor Cayetano for coming to see them through at this time when they needed help out of the adversity of the pandemic crisis, said Mendoza.
The global crewing industry provides jobs and props up the economy thru dollar remittances. Further, because of the surge of COVID-19 infections in the subcontinent of India, we expect that seafarers contributed $5.87 billion in remittances.
In 2018, the number jumped to $6.14 billion, accounting for 19 percent of all overseas Filipino workers. For 2018, this was equivalent 9.7 percent of the Philippines’ Gross Domestic Product and 8.1 percent of our Gross National Income.
