JAPANESE shipping firm NYK Line said it sets up an e-money platform targeted at Filipino seafarers along with a local partner.

Along with the local partner, Transnational Diversified Group (TDG), the venture hopes to offer secure transactions anywhere in the world, even while at sea.

NYK Line and TDG will call the e-money app MarCoPay, which stands for “Maritime Community Pay.” The online money platform was developed for seafarers to ease the conversion of their salaries into e-money. Its QR code-based system can also be used to make purchases while aboard ship.

TDG Assistant Vice-President and MarCoPay COO Areson I. Cuevas said the app will reduce the need for ships to carry cash on board to pay salaries, making the funds a target for pirates.

“It is very expensive to have a lot of cash onboard and we also don’t want the captain to have the responsibility” of disbursing funds, he said at a briefing on Thursday.

A 1984 Memorandum Circular issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) requires that 80% of a seafarer’s salary be remitted to a designated beneficiary in the Philippines.

The app allows seafarers to send money to their recipients in the Philippines at any time, as opposed to waiting until seafarer’s ship will dock to go to a bank or remittance center so they can send the money to their loved ones.

NYK Line Digitalization Manager and MarCoPay President Toshiaki Fujioka said Filipino seafarers make up over 70% of NYK Line’s seafarers

MarCoPay is set to launch in January 2020 with a beta version currently operating.

MarCoPay is also registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission hopes to receive a license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas later this year. — Gillian M. Cortez

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