Background

At the present, the Royal government of Cambodia is not only focusing on the economic reform but also strongly pays more attention on the human resource development through the country because the improvement of capacity building for the official staff and employees in their organizations are the most important requirement for the government to develop the economic reform in the country. Relating to the development of human resource in the field of maritime training, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport also concerned about maritime and river traffic inside the country because many skippers and boat drivers are not fully qualified in navigation skills. Most of them can conduct ships by practicing from generation to the next without participant the course. Furthermore, many Cambodian flagged vessels which sailed around the world were also the main problem for the government. According to “Design of Master Plan for Waterborne Transport on the Mekong River System in Cambodia? which cooperating with BTC (Belgium Technical Cooperation), noted that if a law could be introduced for operating the Cambodian flagged ships, the ship owners or chatterers shall require at least 20 percents of Cambodian crew to work on board. This is an important point for the government to reduce the poverty through the country if we can train the seafarers inside the country to get a certificate of STCW.

History and Events

In the past, there was a little interest for training a navigation skill because there were not so many Cambodian conventional flagged vessels or container ships sailed around the world. Moreover, the numbers of ships had a few numbers and mostly we sailed inside the country only (domestic river transport). The Cambodian crew practiced from one to another directly on board; they learned how to navigate ship from generation to the next without attending the course. At the present time, it is quite different from the past. If we studied about maritime transport in Cambodia now, we would know that there are two main International ports: Sihanouk Ville port (sea port) and Phnom Penh port (river port). On the other hand, there are some private sea ports and tanker terminals at sea and in the river. Thus, there were so many vessels called at Sihanouk Ville Autonomous port (PAS) and some feeder ships and barges also presented in Phnom Penh Autonomous port (PPAP). These two main ports are playing an important role for economic reformed in the country because the number of containers and other cargoes throughput are increasing every year. Furthermore, there are so many Cambodian flagged vessels are sailing around Asia and also in Europe.

Mission of CMI

Vision
Attract Cambodian employers to pay more attention on maritime industry.

Mission
Our mission is to increase the capacity building for the Cambodian seafarers or crew by studying and practicing the basic skills of seamen’s work according to International Maritime Organization (IMO) and to encourage them to work on Cambodia flagged vessels. Furthermore, we want them to provide the most complete, comprehensive, and upgrade the maritime education for the professional seafarers.