Need for excellence in maritime education

Need for excellence in maritime education
By Asghar Ali

How right was Arthur C. Clarke to have said: “How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly ocean”.

A major portion of the earth’s surface is covered by the oceans. One of the major uses of the oceans since the last many centuries has been the transportation of goods onboard ships. Shipping flourished exponentially during the last two centuries and the seafaring profession became international, stream-lined and acknowledged. Shore-based maritime sector benefited from the experience and expertise of the ex-seafarers who found themselves employed in various capacities.

Pakistan is a large and diverse country with all types of topography: glaciers, mountains, rugged plateau, fertile fields, sandy deserts and a long coastline. This all is further augmented by a jurisdiction over the large Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), proudly called the fifth and largest province of the country. Economic activities that relate to this fifth province are numerous in existence with much more in the pipeline.

Pakistan’s economy is dependent upon sea transport for its key exports — raw materials and agricultural commodities — and imports, mostly manufactured goods. Most of the country’s trade is done through ships. With the planned development of the Gwadar Port and Coastal Belt, coastal shipping too is going to rise in importance.

Marine space also provides a wealth of resources — minerals such as oil and gas, fish and tourism/recreational resources. It is increasingly recognised that the development and use of marine resources needs to be undertaken in an ecologically sustainable manner to ensure that they remain available for future generations. It is also critical for the industries that operate in the marine environment to do so in a way that minimises their impact upon it. Oceans and coasts are also important in a cultural/social context.

Pakistan has a rich maritime history and heritage. The largest city of the country, Karachi, is situated on the coastline. It houses the largest port structure, shipping activities and related industrial complex. The earliest and major portion of settlers who arrived here came by sea in order to populate the coastal belt, as did the colonizers with rich maritime background and expertise.

A large portion of our population lives beside or close to the sea or travel to the seaside to relax, and such people are going to increase in number in the near future with plans for a new port structure and coastal development.

The industries that operate in or are dependent upon marine environment are critical to the well-being of coastal or maritime communities. These industries — the maritime sectors, also make a significant contribution to our national prosperity and growth. Success of these sectors is totally dependent on a skilled, highly qualified and motivated workforce at all levels.

Pakistan, like other developing nations, has been experiencing an acute shortage of trained and qualified workforce and managers for its maritime sector and industry with reliance on foreign sources of expertise.

First of all, we need to identify the maritime sector as we are generally not so conversant with this segment of our national economy.

Various sectors of the maritime industry, which collectively form what is known in some countries as the maritime cluster, are probably the most diverse and varied within industrial sectors. These include but are not limited to port authorities and terminal operators; stevedore companies and contract labour suppliers; marine equipment suppliers and manufacturers; commercial and maritime insurance; regulatory authorities and maritime administrations; shipping management and shipping companies; dredging and hydrographic services; surveying and classification societies; shipbuilding, boatbuilding and marine construction; shipyards and repair docks; maritime law and legal consultancies.

We have security agencies such as the Maritime Security Agency (MSA) and the Pakistan Coast Guard for protection against illegal activities. The maritime sector is yet expanded to the associated industries ashore like yachting and recreational crafts; sailing clubs and diving facilities; seafood industries and restaurants; marine tourism and recreation industry; offshore minerals and energy extraction; government and defence organisations; maritime education and training and research and development.

Most of these sectors have benefited in the past from an inflow of well-educated, disciplined practitioners, namely seafarers, who after serving at sea for a number of years, would come and take shore-based positions. The use of oceans has expanded much ahead of shipping and new areas of study such as environment, sea-bed resources, fisheries, marine biology, coastal zone management etc. Associated professions like port management, shipping management and international law require dedicated experts and scholars. New world order demands new emphasis on issues like marine security, terrorism, piracy and maritime fraud to insure world peace in the 21st century.

We are now witnessing an enormous shift in our approach on how we visualise the oceans and seafaring profession.

With new and advanced technologies at the disposal of human beings, ships are hi-tech machines with reduced needs of man power. Highly-qualified seafarers are required to run advanced ships. Seafaring has become rather demanding as far as physical and mental abilities and strengths are concerned. It is widely recognised that most sea-going officers leave the sea at a certain point in their lives to take up employment ashore in a marine-related job. This is also when they need specialised education and training to build upon their sea experience and make themselves suitably qualified for the shore-based maritime industry.

The United Kingdom is still seen as a major world centre for shipping commerce. It relies heavily on its ports that provide the infrastructure necessary for the import and export of 95 per cent of their goods. Apart from practical reasons, these industries are vital to UK’s economy. Not only are they major employers, they also produce a hidden income for the country. Meanwhile, employers in some of these maritime sectors feel that their future is threatened by a shortage of skilled individuals. Concern over the number of available former officers suitably qualified for the work have sparked a series of research in UK, which has culminated into multiple governmental actions and industry-led initiatives aimed at buoying up the numbers working in the industry.

The strategy adopted by UK to achieve the growth in human resource development in the maritime sector is two-pronged — a marketing strategy aimed at increasing awareness of careers in the industry and to make information more readily available and widening access to training opportunities and bring up the value of qualifications to increase their suitability for absorption in the industry.

A better career marketing approach has crystallised into marketing campaigns aimed at promoting shipping to the public as well as to the decision makers. The Chamber of Shipping, seamen’s unions and similar organisations have promoted a number of initiatives to increase the profile of shipping in the UK.

One such initiative is the Fighting Sea Blindness campaign, which aims to help promote coordination of various groups’ efforts in relation to maritime issues and employment. More specific measures included the production of a career video, poster and information packs for distribution in schools as well as on several web sites, which feature information and links concerning careers at sea and in maritime industry.

Sea Vision, promoted by the UK Chamber of Shipping, was launched in January 2003. The initiative aimed at raising awareness about the maritime sector and its importance in UK’s economy followed by generating interest in a range of marine careers. The strategy may not be new, however, Sea Vision does not specifically relate to shipping and shipping-related industries. It encompasses other marine sectors such as ship and boat building, marine leisure, defence, fishing, environment, commerce and so on. The initiative draws together regional and specific centres of expertise in promotion and education. These aim to generate and disseminate careers materials to relevant targeted areas and to provide a public relations vehicle by attending specific public events.

As part of a number of measures taken by the UK government to support an increase in cadet numbers, it has supported the industry’s creation of the Maritime Training Trust. The trust provides a central point for the receipt and administration of the industry’s financial contributions towards supporting further seafarer training. The concept of the trust was that companies could voluntarily contribute to the costs of training seafarers through money donations to a pool, rather than making any direct training investment themselves. This scheme was aimed at shore-based maritime companies and also shipping companies that do not have their own training programmes.

Numerous studies over the past decade have been conducted in Australia also, indicating a similar pattern to that of the United Kingdom with suitable remedial measures undertaken to boost the maritime sector there.

Keeping all this in view, there is a dire need to study and analyse the recent trends in maritime education and training worldwide and evaluate a strategy whereby Pakistan can cope with these new developments in the maritime sector. Only then will we be able to remain abreast with the world in general and region in particular and use our marine resources for the betterment of our people.

Pakistan too needs to realise the importance of new emerging study areas linked with the seafaring profession. We need to educate our young generation in professions such as environment, insurance, law, security and financial management linked with the maritime sector. It is only through such measures that we will be able to expand our operations in the maritime industry.

Publish in Education section of Dawn Newspaper on Oct. 19, 2008.

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/education/archive/081019/education3.htm

The writer is research fellow at the National Centre for Maritime Policy Research (NCMPR), Bahria University