Young people at the Coast and country at large have been urged to take up maritime training courses to acquire skills that would enable them to tap on the job opportunities in the Blue Economy.

Shipping and Maritime Principal Secretary Shadrack Mwadime on Saturday said there are alot of opportunities in the blue economy sector that the youth can exploit noting that the government has already started opening up the sector.

Mwadime revealed that the government through the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) has set aside a revolving fund of Ksh 20 million to be availed strictly to students pursuing maritime careers.

"One of our objectives is to establish as many job opportunities  as possible in the blue economy and we have gone full throttle. We have tried as much as we can even with liaising with international shipping lines to ensure we get this job opportunities and slots available, we are competing with other countries like Philippiness which is way above us" said Mwadime.

Adding " I want to encourage as many young people as possible particularly graduates who are tarmacking out there to realize that we can convert them to seafarers, we have Bandari maritime college and other institutions offering maritime courses, so if for example one has done electrical engineering we can be able to absorb them to work as electricians at shipping companies after going through the trainings. Someone who has done mechanical engineering one can go for a conversion course at Jomo Kenyatta university to convert into a marine engiineer because that is where opportunities are available as it is."

Speaking during an interview with Blue Radio in Mombasa, Mwadime also noted that the government is intending to convert the Bandari maritime academy into a regional centre of excellence.

Mwadime charged "We will invest heavily in terms of infrastructure, equipements. Our students will become the best in terms of maritime issues in the region. In the next 10 or 15 years that is what we are intending to achieve." 

The PS also noted that ministry is planning to change the regulations on maritime training to ensure that sea time experience is part of the maritime course.

"Sea time experience is very critical, it goes hand in hand with theory, and therefore we are going to change the regulations so that we insist that the institutions that offer the courses have a memorandum of understanding with the international shipping companies so that our young people can have that experience. The minimum is just one year in the sea, that qualifies you to join the international market in a competitive way so that you are able to secure the high end job" Mwadime noted.