TIM
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TIMeMagazine
eMagazineVol.1
Vol.1Issue
Issue 5
How To Identify Fake Or Fraudulent
Shipping Agents And Institutes?
A
pproximately about a decade back, the
shipping industry saw a major boom which
lead to the rise in demand of seafarers
around the world, resulting in sudden
shortage of maritime officers and ratings.
Back then, the maritime industry was way more isolated
from common landlubbers than it is now. Many institute
and shipping companies saw this major demand and supply gap which resulted in rise of Maritime Institutes and
Shipping Agents which helped candidates to embark on
sailing careers by providing them the required training.
Whenever there is rise in opportunities, a few unethical
entities always take advantage of the situation and this is
exactly what has happened in the last 5-8 years. A number
of frauds have occurred to seafarers and they continue to
do so by certain manning agents and maritime institutes.
Students who are keenly interested having a seafaring
career are afraid of these fraudulent activities thriving
in the shipping industry and its proof can be seen from
hundreds of comments posted in this one article and on
several platforms onlineUnfortunately, shipping authorities are yet to take a solid
step against these culprits; which has already resulted in
hundreds of candidates getting scammed and losing their
precious time and money.
Considering the high number of emails we were receiving regarding such fraudulent shipping agents and activities, we decided to enumerate a few points which will help
students and maritime professionals to be smart enough
to differentiate between genuine and fake shipping
agents/institutes.
For Maritime Institutes:
1 Check all the approvals obtained by the institute and
provided by the particular country’s shipping authority. For
e.g. in India, the maritime training institutes and courses
providers must be approved by DG shipping and IMU (Check
on their website). AICTE approval of the institute is also very
important in case the candidate wants to apply for higher
management studies in India.
2. Maritime institutes which provides courses approved
by foreign authority needs to be screened properly. For e.g.
there are many institutes in India, which are accredited by
UK maritime authority and colleges to provide the required
degree and seaman documents to seafarers. Before taking
admission in any of such institute, do confirm the minimum
approval requirements and crosscheck them with the
approval/ accrediting body by sending a query mail or
contacting their office through phone.
3. Check the shipping authority eligibility requirement
(physical, medical and technical) and compare it with the
institution. If the institution is only functioning for minting
money and not serious about placements of students, their
selection criteria will be lenient than the one provided by the
maritime authority.
4. Check the management and founder members/
core institute of the college or academy. If the Founder/
Management level of college or institute has member/s with a
doubtful reputation, the intention of the institution cannot be
trusted.
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