I read with interest the certification of a Private Maritime Academy in Chios by the Ministry of Shipping of Cyprus and not by our own Ministry, and I want to refer to Maritime Education in the past, present and future.
The older generation of us experienced the operation of Private Nautical Schools for the Education of young men and women in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, all certified by the Ministry of Shipping. Private Nautical Schools operated in all specialties in addition to the Public Schools and involved students from all branches of the Maritime Industry. There were schools for Sailors, Electricians, Provision staff, Housekeeping Crew, Cooks, etc., which were financed by Greek Shipowners. I experienced intensely the schools founded and maintained by the late Antonis Chandris in my home town of Chios, but also in Piraeus.
I personally had the honor of teaching at the Stewards’ School, which initially operated at the Ionnideion School in Piraeus in the afternoons, and later at private facilities of the Stewards’ Association in Paleo Faliro.
The graduates of all these Private Schools, together with the graduates of the Public Schools, formed the backbone of the crews of Greek and Greek-owned ships, and especially the crews of the Coastal Shipping and the large ocean liners of the CHANDRIS Company that operated on the Europe - Greece - Australia line.
In this way, during the decades I mentioned above, we reached the point of having active Greek seamen of the order of 70-75000 without there being any unemployed personnel. The Governments after the year 1980, managed to gradually abolish all Private Naval Schools and at the same time weaken the Public Schools. In this way, we reached the disappointing number of active Greek seamen of the order of 18-20000, of which at least 5000 are permanently unemployed, especially those belonging to Hotel ranks.
Today there are Greek Shipowners who are interested in establishing Private Maritime Education Schools, such as the esteemed Captain Panagiotis Tsakos, who recently founded a Private Maritime Academy in Chios. The initiative of the Minister of Shipping and Insular Policy, Mr. Christos Stylianides, to establish the year 2024 as the year of Maritime Education was remarkable and we all waited to see what progress this important sector of Greek Shipping would make by the end of 2024.
Mr. Stylianides, upon handing over the Ministry to the new Minister, Mr. Kikilias, admitted that in 2024 not everything he expected for the Maritime Education sector was achieved.
We applaud the effort of the Ministry of Shipping and Insular Policy to support public maritime education schools by increasing the number of incoming students in the year 2024 / 2025 to 1507 compared to the year 2023 and for the year 2025 / 2026 to 1559, however, this number is not sufficient to serve the needs for Greek crews of Greek and Greek-owned ships, the number of which has been increasing rapidly in recent years with new orders.
The efforts of the Ministry of Shipping and Insular Policy, the Eugenides Foundation, which every year publishes books on maritime content for the students of the public maritime education schools operating in Greece, are commendable in this area, but the 1507 or 1559 are not sufficient to meet the needs of the Shipowners and they are forced de facto to hire seamen from foreign schools, such as those in Varna and Cyprus, or to establish and finance private maritime schools in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, etc., from where they select the seamen who man their ships.
The International Chamber of Shipping predicts that there is a serious labor shortage in the global shipping industry, particularly in the Officers’ sector, and predicts that an additional of 90,000 Officers will be required to meet the needs by the year 2026. A large percentage of the shortages concerns Greek and Greek-owned ships.
If we really want to increase the number of young men and women entering the maritime profession, why doesn't the Ministry, in collaboration with the shipping associations and the Eugenides Foundation, create a small-member maritime education committee that will visit high schools and high schools nationwide and attract students? Why the advantages of seafarers' work are not promoted on television channels or in the wider daily press and magazine, something that will certainly attract young men and women to a satisfactory degree?
The maritime tradition of our country, the advantages of the maritime profession, the constantly confirmed quality of work on ships, as well as the increasing strengthening of Greek and Greek-owned Shipping at a global level, are elements that must be constantly promoted in order to attract young men and women to the maritime arena. It is also known to everyone that the maritime profession offers secure employment with high salaries and positive prospects for daily improvement.
The Ministries and competent bodies must proceed as soon as possible with the establishment and support of private Maritime Education schools based on the standards of the past.
I would like to emphasize that in 2014, the then Minister of Shipping and the Aegean, Mr. Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, after meetings with the Shipping Associations, stated that the establishment of private maritime schools was planned. Mr. Varvitsiotis believed that the increase in Greek seafarers would only be achieved if private maritime education schools were established. Unfortunately, this statement by Mr. Varvitsiotis was left in the Ministry's drawers by the subsequent Ministers of Shipping.
If there is indeed a serious interest in reaching the number of Greek seamen of the past again, the responsible bodies should take initiatives and ignore the negative interventions of irresponsible third parties.
Michalis Lambros
Managing Director | MAJESTIC INTERNATIONAL CRUISES INC.
