Journal Archive

Ship Inspection is an important role in assessing the condition of the vessel & its equipments and ensuring them to be complied with the requirements of the international regulations. Vessels which did not pass the necessary requirements are considered unseaworthy. Philippine registered vessels should comply with the rules & regulations under governance of MARINA, and if the inspections to satisfy were failed, corresponding fines & penalties are levied as appropriate.

Marina STCW Circular No. 2018-05 discusses the Rules in the Issuance and Revalidation of Certificate of Proficiency(COP) for Basic Training, Proficiency in Survival Craft and Rescue Boats other than Fast Rescue Boats, Advance Fire Fighting, Medical First Aid, Medical Care, Ship Security Officer and Security-Awareness Training & Seafarers with Designated Security Duties Under Chapter VI of the STCW Convention, 1978, as Amended.

Aids to Navigation(AtoN) are all man-made objects used by mariners to determine ship's position or a safe course. These aids also assist mariners in making a safe landfall, mark isolated dangers, enable pilots to follow channels, and provide a continuous chain of charted marks for precise piloting in coastal waters. The term "aids to navigation" includes buoys, day beacons, lights, lightships, radio beacons, fog signals, marks and other devices used to provide "street" signs on the water. Aids to Navigation include all the visible, audible and electronic symbols that are established by government and private authorities for piloting purposes. Philippines’ Aids to Navigation(AtoN) facilities were reported that only 72.73% of lighthouses and 68.22% of lighted buoys are operating.

Vessel Traffic Management System(VTMS) is a nautical vessel movement observing system established by harbor or port authorities. According to TRANSAS (2014), the VTMS system utilizes information collected by advanced sensors, for example, radar, AIS, closed-circuit television(CCTV), Meteo-Hydro and other electronic object detection systems. The primary purpose of VTMS is to improve the safety and efficiency of navigation, improve features of port services, protection of life at sea and the safeguard marine environment. In Philippines, the VTMS is being partly operated at Manila Bay, Batangas City, Cebu City, Cagayan De Oro and Corregidor Island. The VTMS in Batangas was the first of its kind in the Philippines initiated, implemented and Operated by the Philippine Ports Authority(PPA). VTMS Cebu which is composed of VTMS Control Center and three Radar Stations strategically located at Headquarters Coast Guard District Central Visayas, Talisay, Bantalinao, and Interbridge to have full coverage of vessel movements and to prevent maritime traffic along Cebu-Mactan Channel. Such Infrastructures as navigation & VTMS facilities in the country, however, is absolutely not enough comparing to the wide range of coastwise lines & channels, etc.

A questionnaires in a 7-point Likert scale format test were used to determine the overall effectiveness of the maritime policy in the Philippines. The survey was conducted in the National Capital Region in Philippines, specifically in Metro Manila during the period of October to December 2018. The respondents include employees of Seafarers, Shipping Companies and Training Centers, MARINA, Philippine Coast Guard & Philippine Ports Authority respectively. <Table 2 & 3> show the total respondents as per the positions & each organizations participated in this survey.

This study used cross tabulation as statistical tool to analyze the data of questionnaires that had been gathered.

Cross tabulation method also known as contingency table analysis is most often used to analyze categorical(nominal measurement scale) data, and it is a two or more dimensional tables that records the number(frequency) of respondents that have the specific characteristics described in the cells of the table. It also provides a wealth of information about the relationship between the variables. In order to test the statistical significance of the cross tabulation, chi-square statistic is used.

The Chi-Square statistic is most commonly used to evaluate tests of independence when using a cross tabulation also known as a bivariate table. Cross tabulation presents the distributions of two categorical variables simultaneously with the intersections of the categories of the variables appearing in the cells of the table.

The test of independence assesses whether an association exists between the two variables by comparing the observed pattern of responses in the cells to the pattern that would be expected if the variables were truly independent of each other. Calculating the Chi-Square statistic and comparing it against a critical value from the Chi-Square distribution allows the researcher to assess whether the observed cell counts are significantly different from the expected cell counts.

As depicted in the formula, the Chi-Square statistic is based on the difference between what is actually observed in the data and what would be expected if there was truly no relationship between the variables.

The purpose of establishing this model is to closely examine the factors that affect the maritime safety policy which is a major independent factor. This study model has five dependent variable factors that have an impact in the quality of service in the maritime safety. The five major dependent variables have been measured through questionnaire surveys under itemized as law and institutional systems, government support, IT systems, navigation systems and infrastructures. If the dependent factors were higher, the value of the independent factors would improve as well. These improvements will result in higher performance and service, and will lead to the enhancement of safety in coastal shipping.

[Fig. 1] 
Analysis Model

The data analysis focused on the positions or job titles of correspondents belonging to each organizations involved in the safety and specified variable factors has been made by using the software SPSS 21.0 and the questionnaires following a 7-point Likert scale were formated as 1 Strongly agree, 2 Agree, 3 More or less agree, 4 Normal, 5 More or less disagree, 6 Disagree & 7 Strongly disagree respectively.

<Table 4> presents only 6.50% higher scale than normal level were responded positively while 68.50% showed negative especially by manager & director titles at 17.13 of χ² on the significance level 0.027**, which means the present systems are largely insufficient for international standards. Therefore, the systems are needed to be more modified in accordance with international requirements for improving safety.

<Table 5> presents only 6.50% higher scale than normal level were responded positively while 70.50% showed negative 26.50% disagree & 23.5% strongly disagree especially by manger & director titles at 18.23 of χ² on the significance level 0.041**, which means the present safety inspection systems are not managed in proper way.

<Table 6> presents only 9.50% higher scale than normal level were responded positively while 68.50% showed negative including 22.50% disagree & 19.50% strongly disagree especially by manager & director titles at 11.90 of χ² on the significance level 0.052**, which means the navigation safety information is not properly distributed by the government, whereby the navigating ships are to be often in dangerous situations at sea.

<Table 7> presents only 8.50% higher scale than normal level were responded positively while 58.50% showed negative including 21% disagree & 10% strongly disagree at 10.34 of χ² on the significance level 0.020**, which means the domestic navigation routes should be managed with proper traffic facilities to secure ship’s safety.

<Table 8> presents only 13% higher scale than normal level were responded positively while 66% showed negative including 26% disagree & 11.50% strongly disagree especially by manager & director titles at 21.37 of χ² on the significance level 0.021**, which means the government is needed to design an efficient navigation warning and information systems for the safety improvement.

<Table 9> presents only 19% higher scale than normal level were responded positively while 50% showed negative including 16 % disagree & 9.50% strongly disagree especially by manager titles at 20.18 of χ² on the significance level 0.032**, which means the government is needed to establish

IT-based port administration similar to the PORT-MIS system in Korea in order to integrate all the port-related administrative procedures based on port management information system.

<Table 10> presents only 25.50% higher scale than normal level were responded positively while 51% showed negative at 15.50 of χ² on the significance level 0.070*, which means the government is needed to provide more budget to secure the safety improvement.

<Table 11> presents 40.50% higher scale than normal level were responded positively while 36.50% showed negative at 30.21 of χ² on the significance level 0.035**, which means the subsidy policy for new building ships is keeping almost normal level comparing to other industry.

<Table 12> presents only 36.50% higher scale than normal level were responded positively while 31.50% showed negative including 11% disagrees at 18.16 of χ² on the significance level 0.044**, which means the government is needed to support more budget to the coastal shipping activation and safety improvement.

<Table 13> presents only 27.50% higher scale than normal level were responded positively while 47.50% showed negative including 21.50% disagree at 20.46 of χ² on the significance level 0.007***, which means the government is needed to invest more such aids to navigation as lighthouses & buoys, etc. in order to achieve the safety improvement purpose.

<Table 14> presents only 25% higher scale than normal level were responded positively while 47.50% showed negative including 21% disagree at 17.72 of χ² on the significant level 0.047**, which means the government is needed to provide more such sea traffic management infrastructures as VTS or VTM at the area of heavy traffic navigational channels to improve the safety since the VTS/VTM systems are being operated only in a few area including Manila, Batangas and Cebu.