‘Shipping growth leads to shortage of seafarers’

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

30 Sep 2008

The Managing Director, Genesis Worldwide Shipping, Capt. Emmanuel Ihenacho, has said that increase in the number of world shipping fleet has contributed to the shortage of qualified seafarers in the maritime industry. He disclosed this at the sensitisation workshop on the development of seafaring in Nigeria on Thursday in EnuguState. He said the increase in the world fleet had contributed to the, maritime industry’s acute shortage of qualified seafarers of all ranks throughout the world and Nigeria inclusive.
He said, “The growth in the size and structure of the world shipping fleet has also resulted in an increase in demand for skilled seafaring to operate the new tonnage additions.
“And in the face of inadequate or complete absence of any planning at all, the industry is currently faced with an acute shortage of qualified seafarers of all ranks.
“A major problem, which needs to be negotiated in order to achieve progress in surmounting the current resource supply constraints, is the issue of the persisting public misperception of seafaring as a tough, unattractive career option.”
Ihenacho said there was the need for urgent attention on the part of the maritime administration and flag state authorities to conceive and implement appropriate shipping industrial development initiatives.
This, he said, would lead to the attainment of uniformly high standards and conditions so as to improve the safety and quality of shipping operations in the country.
The Chairman of Senate Committee on Information and a member of Committee on Marine Transportation, Senator Ayogu Eze, said the government would continue to contribute its best to the development of the maritime sector and seafaring activities in the country.
He said that the maritime sector was an emerging lucrative business sector, which should be given the necessary support.
He, however, said that government would leave no stone unturned to ensure the development of the sector.
The Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr. Adegboyega Dosunmu said plans were on to increase the number of maritime institutions in the country.
He said the agency had engaged in various programmes that would spur the development of seafaring activities in Nigeria and the entire maritime sector.
He urged the National assembly to come to the industry’s aid to legislate laws that would facilitate the development of the industry and seafaring activities in the country.
Dosunmu urged Nigeria to take a queue from Philippine strategic development of its seafarers.
He said, “Philippine have 45 maritime training institutions, only four are owned by government, Philippine make more than $4bn as repatriation from their sea farers out of $15bn that comes from repatriation from all Filipinos who are professionals working outside the country.
“We believe that Nigeria with the population of over 150 million people should be able to do more because, the entire population of Philippine is just 80 million people.”

Source: Punch