A Gateway to the Popeye: Bangladesh Mariner’s Job Centre (BMJC)

 A Gateway to the Popeye: Bangladesh Mariner’s Job Centre (BMJC)

-Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman (Rupak), 25/E, Vice President, BMMOA

Popeye, the sailor man, it’s the symbol of all mariners. One of the most ancient professions in this world. The term sailor has its etymological roots in a time when sailing ships were the main mode of transport at sea. A sailor, mariner, seaman, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft. The modern world gifted the mariners with advanced and high-tech ships. It’s hard to get a boozy seaman rather than a polished gentleman standing on deck watching the blue sea with good hope. A well-equipped modern ship with high-tech machinery made the mariner more intelligent, disciplined, and adaptable. Multi-disciplinary tasks make a mariner versatile. The beauty of the sea makes a mariner open-hearted, the roughness of the sea makes him confident. A ship is a floating city, roaming around the globe. Presently a huge number of mariners switching to shore in different entities with different capabilities. Mariners are successful ashore as well. There are over 50,000 merchant ships trading around the globe. Nowadays, employment patterns have changed drastically.

There are two challenges ahead of us:

• Shortage of skilled seafarers
• producing future skills needed due to digitalization.

Future skills in the maritime sector can be useful elsewhere, giving flexibility to individual career paths. As per Bangladesh’s perspective quality Bangladeshi mariners are an asset for our country. History reveals that, due to the geological position people of Bangladesh and this region were dependent on sea and rivers. That’s why they had maritime knowledge from early civilization. Trade, fishing, and shipbuilding were started at early 2300 BC. A British frigate was built in Chittagong in 1818. We have several maritime institutes and upcoming more. In 1952, the first training institute NMI, was established. BIMT (Bangladesh Institute of Maritime Technology) was established in 1958 and BMA (Bangladesh Marine Academy) in 1962. All of them were established to develop world-class officers and ratings for Merchant ships. Later Bangladesh Marine Fisheries Academy (BMFA) was established in 1973 with a view of educating fishing professionals. Gradually number of govt. and private academy and training institute established. Well-trained, skilled, and educated human resources are the driving force for the development of an economy. We have to drive this force in the right direction with sustainable methodology. Last few years due to the world economic recession shipping business has not been stable and it had a severe impact on the marine job market. Suddenly a large number of seafarers became jobless. Presently marine job markets are satisfactory. A sustainable job market remains equilibrium if the supply and demand meet at a point. “A Job Centre” can meet the supply-demand balance.

Why a JOB CENTER(BMJC) is needed?

• To make joining the ship hassle-free.
• Reliable and competent seafarers’ availability.
• Single point management and wide global connectivity.
• Upgraded job status.
• Resource sharing on technical aspects.
• Create a central hub for all sorts of jobs for seafarers including shipping jobs to shore jobs.
• To provide quality officers in the maritime industry.
• Ensuring the prevention of fraudulent activities.
• To arrange different Skill Development Courses including Language Learning Courses.
• Arranging seminars regarding knowledge sharing or on different maritime issues.
• Inviting different Equipment Manufacturer to share their innovation.

Recruitment process through JOB CENTRE(BMJC):

The owner or management of the shipping company will send the requirement to the Job Centre. Job centers will find suitable candidates for interviews from their database. After sorting out suitable candidates, they will be called for an interview in JOB CENTRE (BMMOA Office). If they get selected by the Ship owner/ management, the Job center will forward the candidate to the Authorized Manning Agent.

The manning agent takes the necessary steps to complete all the joining formalities and the candidate “signs on” in the Shipping Office. From the shipping office, Shipping Master will issue two authentication letters among which, one has to be submitted to Departing

Airport’s Immigration and another one has to be submitted to the joining country’s airport immigration. Finally, the crew joins on board.

JOB CENTRE (BMJC at BMMOA Office):

As an entity of ITF, BMMOA can establish a job center. The job center is not only for seafarers who will join the ship but also for shore job seekers. If any company or industry wants to hire a marine engineer or surveyor, they can send requirements to the Job Centre. There are a lot of permanent, temporary, contract-based, and part-time jobs or apprenticeships required in many industries and companies in Bangladesh. Due to a lack of networking, mariners are unable to avail the jobs.

In the case of ship owners or management, if they require any seaman, they can send the requirements to Job Centre. According to the requirements, the job center will look for an appropriate candidate from their database. The whole process is software-based. So, searching for an appropriate candidate with the given parameters will be convenient. The database consists of the full profile of a seaman including CDC no, COC no, all COP no & sign on, sign of information. The authenticity will be cross-checked by the Department of Shipping. There will be a seaman movement database, from where any government authority with access control can view the movement of a seaman ( In/out) along with full details. From the shipping office, a data entry officer will enter the information while signing off or signing in, these data will be updated in the seaman movement database. Each movement can be monitored through a code or reference number.

Members can activate the Job Seeking option from which they can choose the type of jobs they are looking for (Like- joining in ship or temporary/permanent/apprenticeship shore job, etc).

If employing a seaman from an agency costs X $, employing one from a job center will cost the same.

But “X” will be split in half. The amount that the job center will get will be divided again. 10% of the amount is kept for office expenses & software maintenance and the rest 90% will go to the “Seafarer’s Welfare Fund” which is a government entity and regulated by a Welfare Officer as per Bangladesh Merchant Marine Ordinance, 1983. For seafarers who encounter maritime accidents or casualties, the Seafarer’s Welfare Fund will provide financial support to victims.

In a recent exchange, in spite of clear prohibition by the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, there are plenty of cases where seafarers have paid significant sums to secure a position on board, only to find they don’t get paid. They may have taken a loan to pay for the job, have a family to support, and no wages to maintain repayments. In fact, after paying illegal service charges, seafarers are joining a substandard ship where basic rights are sometimes overlooked. A Job centre under BMMOA can be a solution for all of this mischief.