BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
SOLOMON Islands Maritime Transport Association President and Ship Operator, Selwyn Riumana says there is a need for more trained mariners onboard vessels in the country.
“As an operator safety of our vessel is paramount. The International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) convention 2010 for us as marine operators is to guide and direct us to do the right thing and work according to the regulations.
“That it is the actual human being, the actual officers with the compliances certificate, they’re the people who provide the safety to our vessel. We are more interested in the experience than the paper,’’ Selwyn Riumana said during the Solomon Islands Maritime Authority (SIMA) National Open Forum on Maritime training on 13 December at Solomon Islands National Unversity (SINU) Marine School Campus.
STCW Convention stands for Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping. The reason for them is, among other things, to keep you, a seafarer, safe while at sea.
Riumana said as a ship operator, he would be more confident and comfortable engaging people with experience and not just a paper.
He explained that therefore training is paramount and more important to have the capacity and ability to manage and control the full operations of vessels.
“It is a good thing to hear from the Marine Academy Director Dr. Teorae Kabure that the training here at the Marine Academy will be focusing mostly on our shipping industry
“We feel there is more need for more trained and experienced mariners to work on our vessel. So we would also like to look at the on-the-job training,’’ Riumana said.
He said that job training is paramount because for them they have been hiring officers at a very expensive rate mainly class 3 and class 4 masters which affects their operation as shipping operators.
“If we had this training established before, maybe we have abundant qualified and experienced seafarers on our vessel and then we will not have hired officers as we did currently.
“When it comes to the safety of the vessel, ship operators want Solomon Islands National University (SINU), and Solomon Islands Maritime Authority (SIMA) to work closely with them.
“There are the certain requirement and if you look at the regulation it is as required for us ship owners, SIMA, and also the academy. Let us, partner, and work together to address the maritime industry of this country.
On a similar note, the Manager of Shipping Operation and safety of Solomon Islands Maritime Authority Jeremy Tau said that all issues raised are all valid in terms of the problems faced by the shipping industry.
“When I listen to issues raised by our colleague based on the current needs and issues faced by the shipping industry are all valid. There is a couple of points I like to put out so that the Marine Academy, SIMTA, and seafarers to take note of,” he said.
According to Mr. Tau, one of the main issues raised was the funding issue which has been raised over and over and it’s very difficult for each seafarer to afford the cost.
“It was raised by somebody who tells his experience in the past where he said that in the past it is the ship owners or companies who sponsored the seafarers to attend school,’’ said Tau.
“Looking at the current moment only a few ship owners or shipping companies do provide and support the seafarers.
“They fund their seafarers to attend school, and I like to commend the National fisheries development (NFD) which sends its seafarers to Papua New Guinea, Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia,” Tau said.
He explained that the shortage of seafarers itself is not an issue but one of the existing issues is that most of the seafarer’s certificates of conformity (COC) have expired and for some individuals is quite expensive for them
“So again it’s a funding issue,’’ Tau said.
