The Philippines, renowned as the world’s leading supplier of seafarers for cruise ships, has been steadily increasing its deployment over the past few years, following a full recovery of the cruise industry after the pandemic.
Katherine “Karen” R. Avelino, senior vice president and executive director of business development for shipping at Philippine Transmarine Carriers Inc. (PTC), stated that the Philippines deploys approximately 240,000 workers to international cruise ships. This makes the Philippines the largest supplier of hospitality workers for cruise ships, followed by India and Indonesia.
Of this total, PTC accounts for around 25,000 to 26,000 deployed workers, primarily hospitality staff, with only 10-15 percent being technical crew. Through its training school, PTC has become the leading supplier of hospitality staff to some of the world’s biggest cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean, MSC, and Windstar, among others.
Avelino anticipates a steady 10 percent increase in deployments this year across the company’s nearly 200 principals.
According to Avelino, the cruise industry had trial sailings in 2021 following the pandemic in 2020 and achieved full recovery by 2023.
While the country’s deployment figures remain robust, Avelino noted that some hospitality workers are facing immigration issues in the U.S., with 95 individuals already deported for reasons including alleged child pornography. However, she emphasized that U.S. visa cancellations are not unique to Filipino seafarers.
