Philippine Flag
Dutch ship owners want their ships to be manned by an all-Filipino crew, from officer down to non-officer rank, the Netherlands Ambassador to the Philippines Robert Brinks disclosed during the reception he hosted at his residence in Manila on the occasion of the 11th meeting of the Philippines-Netherlands Joint Committee on Maritime Affairs.
“Dutch employers want Filipino seafarers to occupy all positions in the ships because they are good and they can communicate well,” Brinks told journalists, adding that the Dutch have a lot of common with the Filipinos because both nationalities’ make a living out of the sea.
The Philippines is now The Netherlands’ largest source of seafarers with at around 10,000 Filipino seafarers being hired by Dutch-owned ships annually.
Brinks’ views were shared by Tjitso Westra of the Dutch ship owners Association.
“They can perform a lot of functions well and they are more reliable than other officers [of different nationalities]. If you treat them well, they won’t leave you for other principal even for a $100 or [$]200 more,” Westra pointed out.
Brinks noted that the global economic crisis has not affected the hiring of Filipino seafarers for Dutch ships, especially at this time when the global economy is showing signs of recovery.
The Dutch envoy revealed that their shipping industry learned from the mistake it made around 20 years ago when it fired people at the time of economic slowdown. As a result, the shipping industry lacked seafarers when the situation began to improve.
“I don’t think we will slow down on hiring Filipino seafarers because Asia’s [economy] is booming, there will always be a requirement for them,” Brinks explained.
Netherlands came up with legislation that identified the best ways to recruit qualified foreign officers in Dutch-flagged ships in 1996 buoyed by the substantial increase of ships under the Dutch flag. The Philippines and The Netherlands then started the Joint Committee Meeting in 2001 that aided Manila in training its seafarers so that they can be hired by the Dutch principals.
“You have many seafarers but there are not enough jobs for them here. Giving them the right training and hiring them on board Dutch ships will provide them long time jobs for many years to come,” Westra said in closing.
BY REPORTER LLANESCA T. PANTI
