DILI, 28 June 2023 ( TATOLI) – Director General of the Ministry of Transportation and Communication (MTC), Constantino Ferreira Soares, said that MTC will send 16 Timorese students to take Maritime courses at the Indonesian Shipbuilding Institute of Polytechnic Surabaya (SIoPS) in September this year.
“We have been working with the University of SIoPS since 2022, and this year they asked Timor Leste to send students to study in Surabaya, Indonesia and we decided to send 16 students to take the maritime course in Surabaya Polytechnic Shipbuilding Institute,” said Constantino Ferreira Soares, to TATOLI at his office in Cai-Coli Dili, Wednesday.
Soares explained that this field was very important, and had become one of the priorities of the MTC, saying that so far Timorese seafarers were still very limited in this field.
“Currently Timor Leste has limited human resources in the maritime field, especially ship crews and marine service technicians, therefore maritime scholarships must be prioritized to enable Timorese to take this field and become professional seafarers who are ready to operate cargo ships in the future, he said.
He said that currently, Timor-Leste employs crew members from Indonesia to operate the Berlin-Nakrona and Berlin-Ramelau ferries.
“Nearly 90% of Indonesian crew members consisting of ship captains including ship technicians come from Indonesia and we have 18 Timorese sailors who are currently working with them to operate the Berlin – Nakroma and Berlin – Ramelau ferries. Of the 18 sailors, 14 seafarers operate the Berlin-Nakroma ferry and only 4 seafarers work together with international seafarers to operate the Ramelau-Berlin ferry,” he added.
Hopefully, the policy of sending Timorese students to study maritime abroad will open up opportunities for them to operate and navigate ships in this country and abroad in the future.
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Nelia B.
