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If there is one thing the revised Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) Convention has done to boost commercial undertakings in the field of seamanship, the business of training easily counts.
But those businessmen and some government officials involved in the implementation of seafarers training on the pretext of compliance with the convention have been committing abuses in the pursuit of profits.
As a result the country's crewing sector has to brace itself for unwarranted training requirements and inconsistent policies from its seafaring administration, which the industry considers to have exacerbated the current shortage of officers in international shipping.
Consider the ship simulator and bridge teamwork-training course, which the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) requires for all marine deck and engine officers to get their license.
The sprouting of simulator centers and the expansion of other training centers in terms of equipment and courses are a reflection of how the industry dipped their resources onto training. These training centers charge varying fees to give trainees and manning agents options on where to train according to their capacity to pay.
But crewing agents describe the mandatory simulator training as "unfair and impractical" because there is the in-service experience, which is enough to demonstrate knowledge of Bridge Teamwork Procedures especially for those who have worked on board. Impractical, they argue, because of the absence of "physical realism" as required by the revised STCW Code.
Regulation 1/12 of the STCW 95 requires that "each party shall ensure that any simulator used for mandatory simulator-based training shall be capable of simulating the operating capabilities of shipboard equipment concerned to a level of physical realism appropriate to training objectives..." among others.
But are the training centers offering simulator training possess the capability to simulate to a level of physical realism?," asks a crewing agent. In a situation once a total power failure occurs on board, for instance, how can the trainee/engineer restore power, asks a crewing agent.
"The engineer has to look for the mouse to restore the ship's power." The agent says in sarcastic mode. Since there is no physical realism, he says, this does not qualify or address the requirement of STCW under section A-1/12.
Common sense dictates that once you have already gained shipboard experience, you don't have to undergo this ship simulator training because you had worked onboard, says Capt. Nestor Vargas, crewing manager of Galant Maritime Services. That's why the STCW Code, Vargas says, is clear on the requirement on the methods of demonstrating competence, which includes in-service experience as one of the methods of examination and assessment of obtaining evidence.
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