Fears that the Philippines may lose its coveted status on a list of countries with approved maritime education systems may seem far-fetched but are still causing jitters in the Asian country.

For months the country that is the biggest supplier of seagoing labour has been under the shadow of an investigation by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) that could result in some and perhaps all Filipino certificates of competency no longer being recognised by the European Union (EU).

The Philippines' authorities have responded to the threat by, among other things, declaring a number of college courses no longer compliant with its own rules. If, however, they thought this would be enough to satisfy the Brussels auditors, they had not reckoned with the reaction of one college which, seeking to protect its reputation and revenues, last week won an interim court injunction against the non-compliance order.

Not only did the judge decide the relevant authority, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), had exceeded its own powers but dismissed the claim that granting an injunction might jeopardise The Philippines' inclusion on the EU's list of third countries approved by EMSA as meeting the requirements of the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW).

Last year a regular audit by EMSA noted a number of deficiencies including ones at the college that has taken the legal action. The Philippines subsequently reported to the European agency on what actions it had taken and was taking to correct the faults. This report and a follow-up audit early this year had been expected to relieve The Philippines from the threat of derecognition that, in its government's worst fears, could deprive it of hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign earnings.

As has been noted previously, the EU collectively is one of the biggest employers of "sea-based" Filipinos, a category that covers both seafarers and seaborne hotel staff like the 300 who worked on the ill-fated Costa Concordia. Over USD 1 billion was remitted from European countries including Norway in 2010, with the UK and Denmark among the biggest sources of dollars sent to The Philippines.

The dependence on Filipinos, as well as other non-EU nationalities, had been gradually increasing but appears to have accelerated following the financial crisis in 2008 when remittances by sea-based workers to The Philippines were half of what they are now at USD 650 million, according to figures from the country's central bank.

The desperate need to control and cut costs was, of course, not limited to the EU; Japan is probably the biggest single employer as a country, although this, due to a quirk of international payment routeing, is not evident from the remittance figures (USD 311 million in 2010).

The picture in the EU is, however, clouded by the fact some Filipinos will be employed on EU-flag ships, others by EU-based companies but on ships flagged outside the EU. Relaxation of laws governing the nationality of officers on EU-flags ships by a number of countries has led to an internationalisation of crews from Masters down. European seafarers' unions have, unsurprisingly, been highly critical of the trend, warning that safety was being threatened and European skills lost.

On UK-flag ships the number of Filipino officers, for example, has increased dramatically in recent years, trebling between 2005 and 2010 to almost 2,000. This development appears to be reflected in the rise in remittances from the UK by Filipino sea-based workers: they reached USD 263 million in 2010, compared with USD 115 million in 2008.

Total remittances from Filipino sea-based workers for the first 11 months of last year reached USD 3.9 billion, an increase of 14% on the same period in 2010. The total for that year stood at USD 3.8 billion, so the 2011 figure will be well in excess of USD 4 billion, more than double the total of only five years ago.

Official statistics put the number of sea-based workers at 347,000, representing around 25% of the global seagoing workforce. If these figures are to be believed, then the average amount remitted last year was USD 11,500 or less than USD 1,000 a month. The workforce encompasses an admittedly few masters earning perhaps USD 10,000 a month or more, lowly deckhands and kitchen staff and cabin cleaners on cruise ships on a few hundred dollars, excluding tips. Even the latter figure would, however, be regarded as high pay in a country where per capita gross domestic product in 2010 was only USD 2,000.

The annual inflow of USD 4 billion, representing 21% of the total sent home each year by Filipinos working abroad, is seen in The Philippines as not just a vital transfusion for the economy but a representation of the country's ability to provide the world with skilled workers at competitive rates of pay. When, as before, the legitimacy of those skills is seriously questioned, the country undergoes one of its periodic anxiety attacks in which it fears the worst and belatedly seeks to correct its perceived weaknesses.

The legal action is likely to continue for some time as CHED has said it will seek to get the injunction reversed, causing further anxiety as the country awaits the visit of the EMSA inspectors and the subsequent decision by the EU on the validity of its STCW documents. Separately, the case of two Filipino officers detained and charged in New Zealand following the grounding of the containership Rena has only heightened the concern The Philippines is, rightly or wrongly, perceived as failing in its ability to train seafarers properly.

The continuing uncertainty will leave employers of Filipino holders of STCW certificates working on EU-flag ships considering their options. Some might point out that The Philippines last year retained its position on the white list of STCW-compliant countries maintained by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and might consider the EU to be going too far.

The visit to Manila earlier this month by the new IMO Secretary-General and his expression of support for further development of the country's maritime sector may have been welcome, but the white-list wobbles are far from over.

Source: BIMCO, Andrew Guest