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‘Excellent performance, strong work ethic and loyalty to the company’ are key to do well, Class of 2022 told

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IMMAJ chairman Toshihito Inoue delivers his message to graduates of the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP)

Having a licence means that you possess the competence. However, it does not necessarily mean that you would be promoted right away smoothly.”

That was the keen advice International Mariners’ Management Association of Japan (IMMAJ) chair Mr Toshihito Inoue told graduates during MAAP’s latest graduation rites. IMMAJ is an organisation of Japanese shipowners responsible in negotiating labour standards for non-Japanese seafarers on board FOC vessels, which currently comprise 90% of Japan’s merchant marine fleet.

“At a certain point in your career you may feel that you’re not valued fairly or you are behind your peers in promotion,” Inoue-san, the guest speaker at the commencement rites of the academy’s Class of 2022 (first batch), said.

He advised them: “If you find yourself in that kind of situation in the future, it is not the end of a story or end of the line. Never give up! You must continue to study diligently and establish good rapport with your colleagues and superiors for you to prove how good, useful and important you really are.”

In his experience, Inoue-san stressed, “it is always through excellent performance, strong work ethic and loyalty to the company that one can have trust from [in order to succeed], not only with your seniors but your employers.”

He told the senior cadets that “wherever you may go there could be a few temptations that are hard to resist,” as the IMMAJ chair reminded them they are “about to set sail for the new stage of your life” and “your journey as full-pledged seafarers,”

He added: “Whatever may happen in your long journey from now wherever sea is calm my advice to you is that you should be humble, patient, disciplined, confident… and grateful to those who had supported you.”

Inoue-san expressed confidence that when the graduates “constantly lived by those mottos you will be just like your seniors and predecessors” as he advised them not “to be afraid of failure and to maintain your desire to take on new challenges.”

A total of 151 senior graduates received their diplomas in Bachelor of Science in Maritime Transportation (BSMT) and BS in Maritime Engineering (BSMarE) at the commencement exercises held at the MAAP parade ground at Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan campus on 27th May 2022.

The list of BSMT finishers consisted of 75 male and five female, whilst BS MarE had 68 male and three female. The second batch of MAAP Class of 2022 graduates will receive their diplomas in December 2022.

The Academy’s graduate programme also conferred certificates to two candidates with master’s degree in Marine Transportation. SF