MANILA, Philippines — As geopolitical tensions escalate in key shipping lanes, the safety and emotional well-being of the global maritime workforce must take absolute precedence over commercial contracts, according to a leading industry executive.
In an interview with The Manila Times in connection with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) International Day of the Seafarer celebration, Mailyn Borillo, Managing Director of OSM Thome Philippines, emphasized that the maritime sector must transform how it protects its workers. This year's global campaign centers on the theme, "Carrying world trade. Carrying the risks," highlighting the heavy, often invisible burdens borne by mariners operating in increasingly hazardous environments.
Borillo directly addressed the growing tension between meeting commercial obligations to shipowners and ensuring crew safety in conflict-affected zones. For OSM Thome, one of the world's largest ship management and manning entities, the boundary is definitive.
"There is no contract that takes precedence over a human life," Borillo stated clearly, reiterating a non-negotiable stance the agency maintains with every shipping principal.
Borillo emphasized that a seafarer has the right to know the route, the risks, and the protections in place before signing any agreement. When a crew member raises a concern about transiting a high-risk area, it is treated as a legitimate safety request rather than an administrative problem to be managed. "We must respect our seafarers' right to refuse sailing into conflict zones without fear of losing their jobs," she added.
Consequently, the agency actively works with ship principals to implement proper security measures or provide alternative assignments, ensuring no seafarer faces career penalties or retaliation for declining to enter a war-risk zone.
The IMO has repeatedly raised concerns that while seafarers transport nearly 90 percent of global commodities, their everyday sacrifices remain largely invisible to the public. This lack of recognition, combined with prolonged sea deployments, frequently triggers severe psychological isolation. To combat this, Borillo argued that mental health support cannot simply be a reactive program switched on when a voyage turns dangerous; it must be built holistically into the seafarer's entire professional journey.
"Mental well-being is not a checklist item for when crises hit; it must be standard care from pre-departure to repatriation," she noted.
In practice, this holistic approach means preparing both the mariner and their family for the emotional strain before deployment, providing stable internet connectivity as an essential lifeline rather than a luxury while at sea, and establishing structured psychological debriefings during post-voyage reintegration. Borillo noted that coming home from a high-risk contract is not simply going on leave, adding that while a crew's sacrifices might be invisible to the general public, they cannot be invisible to the shore organizations that employ them.
"If they are essential to global trade, they must be treated as essential by their employers," Borillo emphasized.
With maritime hazards dominating global news, recruitment and retention are facing stiffer pressure. Borillo observed that families closely watch the news, meaning a young cadet's decision to go to sea is rarely made alone. To reassure them, she noted that the industry's value proposition must remain completely honest, avoiding false promises of risk-free transits. Instead, agencies must promise that mariners will never face those dangers unsupported, backed by continuous training, robust protection, and a shore organization that treats them as individuals rather than numbers.
"We need to look parents in the eye and assure them that their children are protected," she remarked.
Borillo warned that retention is earned through dignity and career development rather than blind loyalty, stressing that while a modern ship can be built in a few years, cultivating a fully qualified senior officer takes more than a decade.
Therefore, how the maritime sector treats the next generation today directly dictates whether the industry will have a viable workforce tomorrow. "If we do not protect them now, there will be no one left to pilot the vessels of the future," she warned.
Aligning with the broader maritime focus of converting international mandates into local action, Borillo emphasized that regulations like the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) and the domestic Magna Carta for Filipino Seafarers are only as effective as their execution. To bridge the gap between policy and daily practice, she stated that compliance should be viewed as the floor rather than the ceiling. In practice, this means establishing rapid, practical safety nets, such as clear escalation paths, pre-arranged financial reserves, and insurance protocols long before a crisis occurs.
Borillo asserted that sudden vessel abandonment and unpaid wages are not abstract regulatory issues, but real-world emergencies that leave families without income and seafarers stranded far from home. By conducting rigorous due diligence on ship principals and empowering shore teams to act instantly, the agency ensures bureaucracy never slows down a crew member in distress. Concluding her remarks, Borillo called on shipowners to absorb a fairer share of the industry's operational risks, pointing out that investing in better onboard living conditions, strict security, and communication infrastructure is a sound commercial strategy that secures a loyal, competent crew for the future.
"Protecting our crew is not a cost, it is an investment in sustainability," Borillo concluded.
