What\\\'s to do with skilled seamen?

Oceans have always been important to people around the world as a means of transportation. Unlike a few decades ago, however, ships are now carrying goods rather than people. As markets became increasingly globalised, shipping volumes soared. From the 1960s to the latest global economic crisis, the growth rate of international trade through seas has almost been consistently twice that of economic activities as a whole.
The main reason behind the massive increase in shipping is the growth in world trade.  As a result of rising demand, transportation costs have fallen. Ships have increased in size. Economies of scale are being exploited.
Furthermore, there have been technological advances and organisational improvements in port management - of general cargo traffic, for instance. Containerisation is the greatest transportation revolution of the 20th century.
But any shortage of seafarers, especially officers will threaten the very future of the international shipping industry, which is the lifeline of world trade. Even the IMO has launched 'Go to Sea!' campaign to lure young people to  marine education. The specific aim is to promote seafaring as an attractive option for young people of the right calibre, one which can provide them with rewarding, stimulating and long-term prospects, not only at sea but also in the broader maritime industry.
Bangladesh, with a large pool of marine graduates, could easily take advantage of huge job opportunities in the global shipping industry given facilities that the government alone can provide.  
However, many marine cadets, trained in the Marine Academy in Chittagong and 12 private institutes, have remained unemployed due to sheer negligence of the authorities concerned. This is in sharp contrast to the achievement of two Bangladeshi seamen who have little formal education. One of them was the 'Captain' and the other 'Chief Engineer' of a Cambodian ocean-going ship. Their ship collided with a vessel off the Japanese coast. They are now recovering from  the shock of the  accident. as 'Captain' and 'Chief Engineer' are now recovering from shocks they received as their ship collided with a vessel off the Japanese coast. One of them studied up to Class II and the other illiterate. The embassy in Tokyo is reportedly trying to repatriate the two to Bangladesh.
 Meanwhile, a delegation of skilled but jobless marine cadets has sought intervention of the Prime Minister to help solve the problem of getting landing permits (visas). They need such documents to go to India, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore where such cadets are usually recruited for marine service abroad. About 250 junior officers with competency certificates and 226 passed-out cadets are virtually unemployed since December 2013. They learnt the skills as marine cadets from private institutes which cost each of them Tk 1.2 million to Tk 1.6 million.
The government's intervention in helping the marine cadets secure skilled jobs abroad is necessary. It alone has the logistic facilities to contact the foreign shipping lines and get job offers from them. The country's embassies abroad have already been assigned the task of exploring manpower export markets.
At home, the marine cadets do not have much prospects to find proper jobs. The country's merchant fleet (ocean-going) is shrinking very fast with the total number now standing at only 39 ships compared to 68 at the end of 2012.
The fake Captain and Chief Engineer of the Cambodian ship have certainly tarnished the image of Bangladesh as foreign shipping lines will judge from the incident the country's capacity in grooming skilled seamen.
Similar problems are at home also. Marine cadets have pointed out the problems of fake CDCs (Continuous Discharge Certificates) and competency certificates. The fake certificates have brought into question the credibility of Bangladeshi documents.  The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the ILO officials view with grave concern the issuance, since 2004, of ID (Identity Document) by the Department of Shipping to unauthorised seamen.
The cadets have further alleged that even SID (Seamen Identity Document), a recommended document by the ILO, was found improper during the visit of an ILO team on September 7-9, 2014. The ILO Mission expressed its dissatisfaction over ID issued by the Shipping Department as it is not authorised by IMO and ILO and this might have a negative impact on listing in the IMO.
There are also reports that the marine officers who managed to get jobs in renowned foreign companies have so far failed to join their voyage because of visa-related issues. The cadets demanded formation of a government-monitored maritime council to detect massive irregularities taking place in the field of marine education.
Bangladeshi marine cadets working abroad today add Tk 6.0 billion to the remittance inflow, as statistics reveal. The amount will sharply go up if they could be employed in foreign ships.
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