By :Mary Trini Gutiérrez Monsalve
Today the merchant navy has become a very profitable profession, it is a job where the salary is well paid and you have the opportunity to travel the world, young people of all nationalities choose this profession for their work advantages, students strive to start in the career, and continue in it despite the obstacles and completing their academic studies, however that is not enough to guarantee their professional practices on board, these practices are required by the STCW (International Convention on Standards Certification and watchkeeping for seafares).
These practices are necessary in When training the student to become qualified seafarers, in the world there are approximately 2000 cadets who have not had the support of shipping companies or shipowners in their professional internships, it’s a big unknown, why don’t they support the younger generation?
If they are a representative by the IMO within the STCW, the conduct of professional practices for cadets, a company that hires cadets is a company that will know what kind of professional are they leaving in charge when they hire them as Junior Officers, since they were apprenticed to the company and was able to improve their knowledge with it, being an advantage rather than a disadvantage hiring cadets in between.
Not cooperating in the hiring of cadets to perform their professional internships becomes a big problem, on the other hand the students who completed their studies on the ground and wants to put into use all the knowledge they learned and must perform the practices to obtain the degree, needs respite professionals to avoid the work surcharge, stress and fatigue, this makes them no longer work as efficiently as at the beginning of rotation, these factors being one of the main causes of accidents on board, apart from the number of cadets in floating population awaiting the realization of their professional practices is on the rise,
Otherwise we grow Junior Officers today by tomorrow, we won’t have Second Officers to relieve us. Is there a type of favouritism in maritime society? when it comes to attracting cadets in companies, only the ones who has a connections in the company, why this places for cadets are getting smaller and smaller in the industry?
They even discriminate for their gender, many are the cases in which women cannot opt in for a place as a cadet in any company just because it is has as a policy “here we do not hire women” it is clear that the merchant navy has challenges to face and overcome to make it a broader working society for new generations, in this way shipping companies can further support the cadet with professional internships, choosing to make plans to incorporate the student with the maritime world, with more cadets on board, this will encourage the younger population to conduct nautical studies.
Cadet of 5th year of navigation at the Universidad Nacional Experimental Maritima del Carib
