The Department of Transportation (DOTr) yesterday said it will establish the country as the “Maritime Capital of the World” by providing the global maritime industry with world-class Filipino seafarers.
DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista said the agency is determined to address the current challenges faced by the maritime industry for the country to achieve such reputation.
“Our goal at the Department of Transportation is to entrench the position of the Philippines as the Maritime Capital of the World by supplying the ‘seafarers of choice’ for the global maritime industry,” he said.
Considered as “Key Global Workers,” seafarers facilitate the movement of 90 percent of goods worldwide, where “a third of these world-movers are Filipinos,” Bautista said.
With Filipino seafarers remitting $595 million in September 2022 alone and a year-end remittance projection of $7.1 billion, over 600,000 Filipino seafarers worldwide directly contribute to the socio-economic development of the country, the transport chief added.
Apart from implementing reforms for the Philippine maritime industry’s compliance with world standards, the DOTr has a 10-point Maritime Industry Development Plan aimed at claiming the country’s mark in the global marine industry.
The plan includes domestic shipping modernization, expansion of shipbuilding and repair capabilities, building a marine industrial park, development of inland waterway networks, marine environment protection, and addressing the assessment findings of the European Commission and the International Maritime Organization independent evaluators with a barrage of corrective actions on various levels, among others.
Bautista said DOTr, through the Maritime Industry Authority, is exerting efforts to consistently implement and monitor the corrective actions for the benefit of almost 50,000 Filipino seafarers now employed by European-flagged vessels.
In a related development, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines yesterday said it has passed the international safety standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) with a score of 69 percent, which exceeded the global average of 67.6 percent.
The higher rating for the Philippines comes after the offsite validation activity conducted last September 1 where ICAO subject matter experts found that there are no significant safety concerns for the Philippines.
The main objective of this activity is to ensure that principles, techniques and set standards and recommended practices related to international civil aviation operations are practiced by the state to ensure aviation’s safe and orderly growth.
ICAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations with 193 member states that sets standards and regulations necessary for aviation safety, security, efficiency and environmental protection.
The ICAO assesses all member states of the United Nations on their capability and capacity to implement an effective safety oversight of aviation operations.
