The Principal Secretary Shipping and Maritime Affairs Geoffrey Kaituko says that the respective leaders have agreed to fast track a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on mutual recognition of Certificates of Comptency (COC) that will open up opportunities for Kenyan seafarers to secure employment of 1000 ratings and officers on board Korean ships annually.

The MOU is in the final stages of approval and will be signed by the respective Cabinet Secretaries/Ministers during the Korea-Africa Summit in June, 2024.

The Delegation also met the Korea Ship Owners Association (KSA) led by the Vice Chairman ,Mr. Yang,Chang Ho. The Vice Chairman noted that KSA owns a fleet of over 1600 commercial ships with a workforce of 11,000 seafarers. The workforce is projected to increase to 14,700 in the year 2030.The supply of this workforce is sourced from Philippines, Indonesia and Myanmar. KSA intends to diversify their workforce and their focus is in Africa more particularly, Kenya.

The Kenyan Sea farer brand is high since they are physically fit, can speak fluent English and they are disciplined. Therefore, in order for Kenya to successfully produce enough seafarers for the Korean Market, there is need to increase its Maritime Training Institutes to enable Kenya to meet the seafarer demand. The meeting agreed that the Kenyan Government will identify  a manning agent to handle seafarers welfare in Korean Ships. The agent will be the Kenyan maritime liason officer and will work closely with the Korean Government to handle any issues arising on board ships.

The highlight of the visit was the signing of an MOU between the Korea Institute of Maritime and Fisheries Technology and the Bandari Maritime Academy where I witnessed. The main area of cooperation in the MOU is cooperation by the two(2) Institutions in development of training standards, curricula development and implementation, as well as training of trainers and exchange of faculty.

Given the opportunities in the maritime sectors, there is need to increase the number of qualified seafarers through training and certification and therefore we urge the National Assembly to increase financing for maritime education and training centres. I further urge the Kenya youth to embrace the maritime sector and take advantage of the various maritime opportunities available in Kenya and globally