The Transportation Ministry has encouraged the creation of human resources (HR) of superior capacity in the maritime sector through increasing education on shipping science.

"Maritime education is currently developing rapidly, and compliance with national education standards and international shipping education has always been the focus of shipping education institutions," Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi stated at the centenary celebrations of the Revitalization of Indonesian Maritime Education in here on Wednesday.

Sumadi noted that as a member of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Indonesia remains committed to always adapting to international developments in the shipping sector.

In addition, the government is eyeing to make Indonesia the world's maritime axis, for which shipping education plays an important role in creating superior human resources.

He informed that currently, 10 Shipping Vocational Education Centers, two Shipping Centers under the auspices of the Transportation Ministry, and State College of Sailing Jakarta had held the Postgraduate Vocational Education as of this year.

Sumadi expects that the development and existence of national maritime education could continue to improve the quality of graduates, thereby enabling them to compete at the national and global scale.

"I hope that the celebration of a century of revitalization of national shipping education would be a milestone in the spirit that the Indonesian nation is a nation of seafarers. A momentum to improve the quality of national maritime schools so as to produce quality human resources that are internationally recognized," he remarked.

Sumadi revealed that based on data for the last quarter of 2021, there were 1.23 million seafarers, of which 28 percent, or over 350 thousand seafarers, worked on foreign shipping and filled up some ranks.

The number of shipping graduates absorbed from the Transportation Ministry reached 8,080 and were currently partaking in the Maritime Industry of the World of Work (IDUKA).

"If it is assumed that seafarers earn around 1,500 US dollars per month, then every year, seafarers earn 110 trillion in foreign exchange per year," he remarked. (Antaranews)