Philippines has been a maritime hub for the workforce all around the world. From merchant shipping to cruise, you will find seafarers from island nation all over there. A great part of the maritime work is constituted by the island nation. This is for both officers and ratings. But in past 1 decade from 2010 -2020, the numbers of seafarers from other countries have gone up. Russia, China, India, Indonesia and Ukraine are some of the countries from where lots of seafarers are coming for sea jobs. East Europeans countries have gone up to in the market share. As far as Europe is concerned, lot of officers for both merchant and cruise industry is coming from various nations across Europe.
India on the other hand has been constantly increasing their market share in the maritime workforce. China with their increasing tonnage in shipping industry also employs large number of personals. The reason for so much competition is simple. Seafarers bring higher foreign reserves to a country. And it affects the economy a lot. Philippines good part of economy is contributed by the money that OFW, especially seafarers that brings it in.
Earlier Only few countries had infrastructure to train people for sea jobs, but slowly other nations have also come in same level of training as other reputed training countries. Cost is also another factor which is resulting for the competition. Some nationalities are ready for lesser money as compared to the other. Geographical location of the country and its connectivity matters a lot also.
