Expo Maritime offers eye-opener for local maritime industry

EVER since the voluminous final report of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) has been officially submitted to the European Maritime Safety Administration (EMSA) early last year indicating the industry's compliance with observed deficiencies in the local maritime education and training of Filipino seafarers, reports and rumors of about 50,000 Filipino officers losing their jobs onboard European-flagged vessels have been proliferating like wildfire.

While officials are confident that the Philippines can weather the storm yet again as it has done so several times in the past, some stakeholders in the maritime industry think otherwise.