Just the start of the year but MARINA is already laying out new and exciting developments that all seafarers, manning agencies, shipping companies and all maritime stakeholders should watch out for.
If you are active on social media, you can find numerous Facebook posts from STCW Office that announce all these developments. In case you miss some of them, we’ll provide you the list:
1. Paperless transaction now in effect – effective last January 2, 2018, the MARINA Central Office has commenced paperless transaction. This means that the STCW Office will not require us to have photocopy and original copy of our documents once it has been verified. This could also mean less expenses on envelopes and photocopies!
2. MARINA Building in progress – Seafarers’ long awaited home that we can call our own is currently under construction and is projected to be done by mid to last quarter of 2018 and located in Bonifacio Drive, Port Area, Manila near PPA.
3. Free SCS Registration – The STCW Office offers FREE SCS Registration to those who do not have SCS account yet. The FREE SCS registration can be found in MARINA Central Office Building on the 6th floor. This is a BIG move to counter those who offers P100 to open an SCS account in the lobby of MARINA office building in Kalaw. You can find free SCS instruction here.
4. Free Wifi / Free Coffee – these add on services is for FREE by seafarers who will process their transaction in MARINA Central Office. Soon, MARINA Regional Offices should have this also.
One of our wish has come true with this development…
5. Examination in MARINA Regional Offices – Evaluation and assessment of applicants for theoretical examination commences late of 2017 and is currently on going in Cebu and Davao Regional Offices. MARINA is also planning to offer the same services to Ilo-Ilo Regional Office sometime in the near future.
6. No more uniform rental – After a post that has gone viral, we, Marinos won. It has been a long, but victorious cry for us to have this abolished. Transportation Sec. Arthur Tugade himself ordered to stop collecting uniform rental of Php25.
We’re seeing an unprecedented series of developments that we’re not seeing before. We will wait for further announcement and more exiting services that will make our transaction easier and more convenient. We know that some systems does not come perfect. Furthermore, we will be pro actively involve in the continuous improvement of these.
Info and Photo credits to STCW Office FB page.