Effective February 1, 2010, all manning agencies in the Philippines shall provide, pursuant to the guidelines of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and at no cost to the seafarers, an anti-piracy awareness training seminar for seafarers who are signing on.
INTERTANKO has followed this process closely and has been instrumental in assisting the POEA in its development. As a result, the industry's Blue Book, entitled Piracy – The East Africa/Somalia Situation will be used as the basis for the anti-piracy course, as endorsed by the Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) and POEA.
Piracy in East Africa/Somalia has been a long-standing issue in the Philippine Government's agenda. Initially, a recommendation to ban all Filipino seafarers from vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden was the only solution being considered by the Philippines in order to protect the welfare of Filipino seafarers.
However, through a number of discussions between the industry and the Philippine Government, a collective decision was reached to support measures that will address not only the adverse effects of pirate attacks, but also the anxieties and trauma suffered by their families.
In June 2009, a symposium was organised by the Joint Manning Group, providing an overview of the practical measures to deter, delay and avoid piracy attacks. INTERTANKO's Regional Manager Asia-Pacific, Tim Wilkins, was invited to present a detailed overview of the industry Best Management Practices (BMPs).
As a follow-on to Mr Wilkins' presentation, Minerva Alfonso, INTERTANKO's Maritime Advisor based in the Philippines, further discussed this issue with the government.
This culminated in the successful use of the industry's Blue Book on practical measures to avoid, deter or delay piracy attacks as the basis for anti-piracy crew training by the POEA.
Based on INTERTANKO's key recommendations covering piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia, Mr Wilkins provided details on the reasons that attacks have generally been successful, explaining that there are still operators not implementing these four basic points for improving a vessels' security.
He emphasised a theme that was considered extensively at the conference; that of training. He stated that crew training was an essential part of the pre-planning stage, adding that the pre-planning stage was not something to be considered overnight, but something which takes time and resources.
With those, a ship and its crew can ready with effective SPMs so that both the software (training and drills) as well as the hardware (stores, razor wire etc.) aspects of the BMP can be properly implemented on board.