50,000 Filipino seafarers faced blacklisting on EU-flagged ships due to 16 years of failed reviews by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).
During the last two years, the Philippine maritime industry has been on tenterhooks as threats of blacklisting loomed over the heads of the country’s 50,000 seafarers working on European Union-flagged ships. For the last 16 years, the Philippines has failed to pass the review of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).
In 2021, the EMSA stated that the substandard quality of Philippine maritime school education can lead to serious consequences for students training to become seafarers, which sent the industry into a tailspin.
Agencies both in the government and the private sector scrambled to implement remedies ranging from evaluating maritime schools, conducting industry-wide consultations, and forming an inter-agency body to come up with policy recommendations.
