Background to Crewco Training Center (CCTC)

CCTC is a maritime training center in Manila that provides training courses for the Filipino crewmen, cadets and officers (accounting for fifty per cent of Crewco crew) as well as third party training for clients. The cadets who come to CCTC are selected from maritime colleges around the Philippines. After successfully passing the entrance exams and interviews they are enrolled onto the three-year deck cadet program at the CCTC training center in Manila.

What they do is because of a lack in the Maritime education system in the Philippines. Per the management at CCTC, they learn incorrect practices and have to unlearn these practices at CCTC. They have put into place a proposal for a train-the-trainer program, which is to be funded by the maritime education institutions themselves. One of the managers mentioned

that only five out of 100 cadets pass the CCTC entrance exams which are created by Math teachers at CCTC, based on what they are already supposed to know [CCTC Field Notes].

The Western European tradition of maritime training heavily influences the training at CCTC. According to one of the training consultants at CCTC, the training, here, is necessary because the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) stated that Filipino seafarers were not competent, and the training they get in the colleges is not adequate. Sampson and Bloor (2007) note the case of the Philippines, which is important for my study as the focus is primarily on Filipino seafarers. They state that a “white-list” compiled by the IMO includes a list of countries that ‘demonstrated full compliance’ with the STCW requirements. There were, however, concerns raised as to the importance of certain countries in terms of labor, such as the Philippines (which accounts for twenty per cent of global seafarers) could not be exempted from the white-list. This is an important point from the perspective of maritime training because companies such as Crewco realize the deficiencies within the national maritime education system and seek to bolster their own training initiatives within the organization (Bloor, Sampson & Gekara, 2014).

Consequently, CCTC has to take over the charge of training them in the academic tradition. According to the training managers at the Crewco head office, the company works on the basis of a controlled accelerated promotional program, which means that they control the quality, shorten the time and still ensure the successful completion of each seafaring phase. One of the managers at the head office described this as a continuously “moving escalator”. If someone tries to leave the escalator or stay on an intermediate step, it creates a backlog of the people below and, hence, a problem in the system. To stop this from happening, CCTC works to improve the decision-making capabilities of the seafarers, introducing

logical thinking and problem solving by focusing on subjects such as, math and physics which they believe, over the years, leads to an improvement in these areas. They also motivate them to work towards management level. The company statistics, compiled for an industry seminar, show that between 2000 and 2010 in the wider industry, out of an intake of 100 cadets normally less than 20 take on management level officer positions and less than 30 make it even to operation level officer positions. The CCTC records show that in their case, out of 100 cadets around 90 made it to operational level officer positions and 50 made it to management level officer positions. Hence, it is an important site at which transition happens. CCTC is divided into three main parts: the training center, the operations department, and the residential block where the cadets as well as the officers who come for upgrade training stay. The cadets at CCTC live and train here for the ten months of their shore-based training. The daily training schedule follows similar timings for the day-work on the ship. The cadets have breakfast at 0600, and classes start at 0800. All cadets are expected to be in uniform, which is a white shirt with black trousers and black shoes. There is a break in the class from 1000 -1100 then back to class till 1200. Lunch is from 1200 to 1300, classes begin again until 1500, break from 1500-1530 and then end at 1700. Dinner is from 1830. The cadets have breakfast and dinner at the residential block and lunch is served at the training block. There is a curfew at 2230. Apart from the maritime training, the cadets also have residential duties, which include helping at the reception in the residential block, signing people out if they are going to the gym or play in the recreational area and on Saturdays they have general cleaning duties, which are supervised.

In terms of the training, the program is divided into three sections. There seems to be a progression through the training. For example, in the first

block, the cadets learn the foundations, math, physics, ship’s technique is learned first, then technical navigation, terrestrial navigation, seamanship theory and practical are learned. After three months of training, they go to sea for ten months, where they are expected to complete the ISF training record book to document their experiences. When they return from their sea-time training, they move on to the so-called major subjects in the second block, which include passage planning, meteorology, maritime law, and collision regulations, among others. Access to information and resources is built gradually. After the second block, they undergo an additional eight months of sea-service, where they go on board as ratings. After returning to the training center, the focus of the third block is that the cadets complete the training and additionally prepare for their Officer In Charge of Navigation Watch licensure examination and Certificate of Competency. The training courses in CCTC and on board are structured as per international standards set out in the STCW. Once they have completed this program, they appear for operational level license exam (national) before they go on board as junior third officer. The table 3-3 below lists the details of the training in each block.

Table 3-3 Deck Cadet Training Program

Concerning the class structure, the training is divided into classroom-based training, which is theoretical, and two types of practical training. The practical training includes simulation training which is carried out on the full mission bridge simulator, the mini bridge simulators, GMDSS, and the ECDIS simulators. Practical workshops comprise the other practical training types, this includes working areas such as the forward and aft mooring stations, pilot embarkation ladder, container lashing facilities,

cargo lashing platform and firefighting training facility. The shore based training periods are punctuated by two sea service periods each lasting between eight and ten months, detailed in figure 1 below.

Figure 1 Deck Cadet Training Program