Maritime Careers Day 2014 Speech Hon. Jose Herrera MP, Parliamentary Secretary responsible for Competitiveness and Economic Growth Good morning. Honourable guests, ladies and gentlemen ... Please allow me to start this morning by congratulating Mr Wilfred Sultana, on behalf of Wilfred Sultana & Associates, for this initiative -- Maritime Careers Day. The fact that this conference has become an annual event, attracting top notch speakers, is a great credit to you and underlines the important place it has in the industry. Malta Maritime Careers Day has become a platform for maritime stakeholders to collectively raise the awareness of the industry and for others to explore the vast and immense opportunities that exist -- both at sea and on land. ... To me the whole subject is fascinating, with opportunities to advance in different ways. That is why, recently, the secretariat under my remit launched a draft consultation document on integrated maritime policy. ... More than 15% of Malta’s economy is dependent on the marine environment. Elsewhere in the EU it is more like three to five per cent. Our figure – though impressive – could increase further. First, we must take the necessary actions to coordinate the different areas that fall under the industry. Currently there are some twenty thousands jobs depending on maritime, with a value of 600 million euros directly injected into our economy. As a Government we believe that with a 1% increase in the GDP this will equate to an extra turnover of 70 million euros into our economy. However, if we – collectively – manage to reach our target and over the next five years increase the contribution of the maritime industry of GDP by 3% this would mean an extra two hundred million euros injected into the economy. In terms of employment this would roughly equate to thousand of jobs, a figure matching our usual rate of unemployment. So, the issue we need to address is the skills gap that exists between these potential jobs and our available work force. Through this maritime integrated policy, my intention is to address this gap. ... In all this I believe that there is one missing link: promotion. This would also help to address the mismatch in skills. Studies show that one of the reasons for the deficit of skills in the maritime field is lack of awareness of the sector. Through promotion we can increase visibility of the sector. Currently our maritime registration is the largest in the European Union and the seventh largest in the whole world. In 2013, according to figure produced by the NSO, 700 vessels were registered with Transport Malta. These include everything from mercantile vessels to yachts. This success is mainly down to good legislation, good reputation and good tax incentives. This growth in the merchant shipping register not only meant profit for direct stakeholders, but also profit for a variety of other industries or sectors which benefited indirectly. .... Recently, I had the opportunity to speak about new ideas we can introduce, which will result in more work in our country. With a register which today makes Malta a leading flag administration state, I strongly believe that we can now become a hub for maritime litigation, with the setting up of a maritime court. The idea of such a court is being actively discussed together with the strengthening arbitration services. Next there would need to be an overhaul of the maritime legal framework with a vice-admiralty court and a revamped International Arbitration Centre. The establishment of these institutions coupled with an effective marketing campaign, and, of course, our competitive tax regime, would convey the message to the maritime world that Malta is in a position to provide efficient and advantageous all-embracing maritime legal and corporate services. Furthermore, it would increase Malta’s visibility in the market as a centre of maritime excellence. ... It is therefore right to announce that the Government will soon embark on the task of preparing an employability index for the maritime sector in order to have a clearer picture of the skills gap present and how to tackle it. This is an important tool that will enable both the government and the private sector to identify weaknesses and determine the way forward. ... In the near future I would like to extend Malta’s reputation in ICT to the rest of the maritime industry. These ICT technologies and systems will be implemented to sustain the necessary improvements in logistics – yet another area where the opportunities are never ending. I believe that the logistics process can be optimised through excellence in the maritime transportation system, making it a strategically significant component of the logistics integration within the global supply chain. The value of maritime logistics goes beyond sea transportation and includes loads of supplementary services, which, if coordinated well, will yield fruits. Other areas, for more synergy are: the ports, bunkering operations, transhipment, food and energy. I hope I have been frank with you. We should pause to take stock of how far we have come. Just a little self-congratulation is in order. But there are big challenges – indeed big opportunities – ahead. We live in a competitive world. There are others competing for maritime business and nothing can be taken for granted. But that shouldn’t intimidate us. We know the basics in Malta are good. We are proud of what we have achieved. We just need to do more, a lot more. The journey could be very exciting. And to those of you thinking of maritime as a career option consider this – you wouldn’t be getting just a job, you would be getting an opportunity to lead from the front with your ideas and creative skills. You would be shaping an industry that will be central to the success of the whole Maltese economy. In terms of personal development you would be looking way beyond the horizon.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 09:35:33 +0000
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