The people behind an upcoming major industry event, Expo Maritime Philippines 2023, deserve a big pat on the back for rendering a great service to various sectors that will boost the local maritime industry.
It is a two-in-one event: a flag state conference and a shipbuilders convention, which will be staged at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza on 16 to 17 February.
The event organizers, led by Rachelle B. Lopez of the WMOC Group of Companies, aim to gather the leading ship registries in the world, on one hand, and companies engaged in shipbuilding, on the other.
Officials of government agencies in the maritime sector, as well as shipping companies, especially manning agencies and seafarers themselves, will learn a lot by attending the expo. There will be registration fees to help defray the event’s costs. The organizers, however, have opened the convention for free to seafarers with valid passbooks since aside from the conferences, there will be exhibits and other side activities during the two-day expo.
Based on initial information from organizers, President Bongbong Marcos Jr. will lead the ribbon-cutting to officially open the expo.
In the case of flag states, among those that have confirmed attendance are Panama, the Marshall Islands, Liberia and Singapore. We gathered from the organizers that officials from each flag state will be sharing their best practices, and how they made themselves competitive and succeeded in attracting substantial numbers of oceangoing ships to join their registry, among others.
According to Lloyd’s List in 2019, Panama had over 9,300 registered ships; the Liberian ship registry had 4,000 ships; the Marshall Islands had 4,100 ships; and Singapore, had close to 5,000 registered ships. These leading ship registries do not have many seafarers, and they do not have remittances similar to the Philippines, yet they are generating significant incomes for their economies from their operations as flag states.
In the Philippines, we once had over 800 Philippine-registered oceangoing ships some decades ago.
The number dwindled over the years until today we have less than 100 Philippine ships engaged in overseas trade.
The Maritime Industry Authority has been struggling to reverse the decline. Unfortunately, it continues to be unsuccessful. Certainly, by attending the expo, Marina officials could gain invaluable knowledge that may come in handy in boosting the nation’s flag registry.
Also, as the biggest supplier of seafarers for these flag states, it is important, especially for those in the crewing business and the deployment of Filipino seafarers to gain an understanding of these states’ requirements and regulations for seafarers.
In the conference on shipbuilders, we are among those invited as resource speakers. We will be sharing the latest developments on the IMP Shipyard and Port Service in Albuera, Leyte, which we hope will start operating by the middle of the year.
We will also speak about IMP Shipyard’s several initiatives. One of these is the collaboration with the local government of Albuera to develop a port and operate a fishing vessel to generate economic activity in the municipality which is dependent on fishing.
We will also share IMP Shipyard’s looming cooperation with the local government of Concepcion, Romblon, in the construction of small steel-hulled ro-ro passenger boats to replace the town’s three wooden boats and boost economic activities and tourism on the island.
Definitely, Expo Maritime 2023 is a welcome development for the industry. It can serve as a venue for dialogue between the government and the private sector for future cooperation, as well as a forum to educate policymakers on the strategic importance of the maritime industry in an archipelagic country like the Philippines.