According to the General Director of Seafarers of the Panama Maritime Authority, Captain Juan Maltez, “Nowadays  the market of the seafarers’ recruitment in the Republic of Panama shows a boom and an encouraging behavior, since, according to the statistics of the Panama Maritime Authority during this administration, we have reached the amount of 1,505 stamped labour contracts, from which 128 correspond to the first trimester of the year 2023, 621 to the year 2022, 263 to 2021, 230 to 2020 and 263 to the second semester of 2019”. These declarations took place during the 11th Meeting of the Embarking Committee, presided by the AMP through the General Directorate of Seafarers.

Since its creation, the Embarking Committee has supported and facilitated the placement of seafarers through the Seafarers Database of the AMP. This has been done with transparency and focusing in competences, according to the needs of the maritime sector and the national and international current legislation, optimizing the personnel head hunting and providing better work opportunities to Panamanian seafarers.

The hard work performed by this Committee has contributed to the fact that, up until the closing of 2022, around 108 seafarers’ labour contracts have been signed by Panamanians, to work onboard diverse types of ships, while 34 contracts are being processed, corresponding to this first semester of 2023.

Captain Maltez added that: “the labour opportunities in the maritime, logistic and port sectors are more and more demanding. One of the determinant factors is the use of a second language and in some more specific cases even a third language, since the more languages are mastered, the more opportunities will arise. Therefore, it is priority that the Panamanian professionals get awareness of the importance of mastering different languages from their first years of training”.

The AMP has recommended the International Maritime University of Panama (UMIP) and the Columbus University, both special guests of the Embarking Committee, to apply a previous exam to students, when entering the career and an exam afterwards, at the ending of the training, to document a better supervision, in order to obtain a more precise forecast of the English level.

On top of that, with the Ministry of Education (MEDUCA), and thanks to the report of the Consulting Service for the Forecast and Evaluation of the Maritime Degree, delivered by the AMP at the end of 2021, it was possible to start it with as a pilot plan in 2022 while during 2023 five new study programs corresponding to the Maritime Degree will be implemented  including: Industry and Basic Maritime Regulations; Nautical Sciences; Fundamentals of Measuring and Industrial Safety; Drawing and Interpretation of Technical Manuals as well as Maritime Information Technology, emphasizing English, with the objective to help prepare the human capital required by our country.

The sectors representing the Government in the Embarking Committee, shipowners and seafarers including representatives of the training centers, maintain an active participation, providing ideas and executing projects to achieve compliance with the set objectives that benefit our Panamanian seafarers.

• The Government was represented by the AMP, the Ministry of Labour and Work Development (MITRADEL), the Ministry of Education (MEDUCA), the National Institute of Professional Training and Qualification for the Human Development (INADEH) and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP).
• The employers were represented by the Panama Maritime Chamber (CMP).
• The seafarers were represented by the Panamanian Marine Officers Association (APOM).
• The Universities were represented by the Council of Presidents, the UMIP and Columbus University.
• The Embarking Committee was created by means of Resolution   J.D. No. 032-2019 (December 26, 2019), published in the Official Gazette No. 28934 (January 6, 2020), as an entity attached to the General Directorate of Seafarers (DGGM).  It has a Regulation of the Embarking Committee, according to Administrative Resolution No. 107-2021 of June 11, 2021, and arises as a response to the need of having and executing national policies to promote employment in the maritime sector, encourage the progress and development of skills and increase the opportunities of employment for Panamanian seafarers in the national and international maritime market.