ILO: Automated ships, competitive pay cut need for RP seamen

Feb 02, 2006
Updated 12:01pm (Mla time)

Associated Press

GREATER automation aboard ships and competition from Asian neighbors is cutting into demand for the Filipinos who make up 20 percent of the sailors in the global shipping industry, the International Labor Organization said Thursday.

The current shipbuilding boom has created strong demand for officers worldwide, the ILO said, but the trend toward automated vessels with smaller crews has reduced the need for lower-skilled seafarers, known as ratings.

"As today's ships become more specialized and automated, the required skills mix has changed," the ILO said in a statement. "Demand for skilled deck officers and engineers continues to rise, while slimmer crews means the need for lesser skilled ratings is dropping."

A December report by the Baltic and International Maritime Council estimated a worldwide shortage of 10,000 qualified officers and a surplus of 135,000 ratings, the ILO said.

Aside from shrinking overall demand, less-skilled Filipino sailors are facing competition from Asian neighbors like China, India, Myanmar and Vietnam, just as Filipinos squeezed out their European and American counterparts in the past, the ILO said.

The labor body said the benchmark monthly wage for Filipino ratings is 1,400 dollars, while sailors from other Asian countries are accepting jobs for as low as 500 dollars 700 dollars.

Some ship owners also are increasingly imposing age restrictions -- sometimes as low as 40 years, it said.

But the ILO quoted shipping industry and labor executives as saying many ship owners still prefer Filipino crewmen because they speak English, are Western-oriented, and "flexible and have a caring attitude."

The labor body said it was now crafting a new Maritime Labor Convention to reflect the needs of a globalized shipping industry. If adopted, it will consolidate and update more than 65 international labor standards adopted since the 1920s and address issues including minimum age, working hours, occupational safety and health protection.

Central Bank figures show about 240,000 Filipino seafarers sent home 1.2 billion dollars, or 16 percent of total remittances, in the first nine months of 2005.

(1 dollar = 52.090 pesos as of Feb. 1, 2006)

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