The maritime industry celebrates today the Day of the Seafarer 2015, honoring all those brave men and women who dedicate their lives to a career at sea braving various challenges ahead of them .
This year the International Maritime Organization put its focus to maritime education and promoting a career at sea.
Most people go to work in offices, factories and shops, but it’s a different picture for seafarers: an office can be a hundred thousand-ton oil tanker or a cargo ship navigating the world’s oceans with beautiful landscapes.
The IMO is therefore encouraging young people who are considering career options available to them to venture into this profession and join the world’s 1.5 million seafarers in navigating the seas of the globe.
The seafaring career offers people a chance to enter a world of adventure, as explained by the IMO Secretary General, Koji Sekimizu in his annual address, featured in the video below.
The Day of the Seafarer was first celebrated in 2011, following its establishment by a resolution adopted by the Conference of Parties to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), 1978, held in Manila, Philippines, in June 2010, which adopted major revisions to the STCW Convention and Code.
The Day of the Seafarer provides an opportunity to pay tribute to the world’s 1.5 million seafarers for the unique and all-too-often overlooked contribution to the well-being of the general public.
World Maritime News Staff; Videos: IMO