MarinePal’s Chawla and SEAKER’s Hosana Ink Deal to Put Digital Maritime Learning and Training Record Books in Filipino Seafarers’ Pockets

The tie-up names SEAker the Hong Kong firm’s preferred distribution partner in the Philippines, bringing the GlobalMET electronic training record book — and MarinePals’ learning library — to a platform now used by more than 119,000 seafarers.

HONG KONG, 13 September 2026 — MarinePals, the Hong Kong maritime e-learning company founded by Capt. Pradeep Chawla, has signed a distribution deal with SEAker, the fast-growing Philippine maritime super-app, that will carry digital training record books and a library of learning content to the world’s single largest source of merchant seafarers.

The agreement, which takes effect today, names SEAker as MarinePals’ preferred partner in the Philippines for distributing its learning content and its GlobalMET-standard electronic training record book, or eTRB. It lands as SEAker crosses 119,000 registered Filipino seafarers — a number the company says is still climbing by the day.

For generations, a cadet’s training record book has been exactly that: a book. The hand-signed proof of tasks completed at sea — the paper trail that underpins an officer’s certification — has been vulnerable to the obvious hazards of life aboard ship, from water damage to loss, and occasionally to doubt. Under the partnership, cadets will be able to buy a GlobalMET eTRB and have it load straight into their SEAker profile, where it connects to the platform’s sea-time and sea-service verification layer. Record-book tasks and verified onboard experience, in other words, start living in the same place.

Alongside the record book, MarinePals’ catalogue of computer-based learning will be made available inside SEAker, with a seafarer’s progress synced to their profile. Both companies were careful to draw a line around what the material is: knowledge and competency content that builds skill and readiness — not the mandatory STCW certification courses, which remain the preserve of accredited training centres.

That emphasis on continuous learning is, for Chawla, the whole point.

“The most critical skill required for the seafarer of the future is the ability and willingness to accept change and learn continuously, because the pace of technological change is faster than ever before.”

— Capt. Pradeep Chawla, founder and CEO of MarinePals and chairman of GlobalMET, the Global Maritime Education and Training Association

For SEAker’s founder, the pitch is as much about trust as convenience.

“No more training record books wet, lost or doubted. From today, a Filipino seafarer’s learning and record are digitally rendered, verified and authenticated through the combined strength of MarinePals and SEAker — one trusted record, for an entire career.”

— Capt. James Nikko Hosana, founder, president and CEO of SEAker System Technologies

The Philippines supplies a large share of the world’s merchant crews, and the pressure on its training pipeline to modernise — and to prove that what it certifies can be trusted — has only grown. Putting a verifiable data trail in the hands of schools, manning agencies and shipowners is the kind of step the industry has been asking for, and it sits squarely within SEAker’s stated ambition to become the digital backbone of Philippine maritime.

MarinePals’ learning content and the GlobalMET eTRB will roll out on SEAker in the coming months, the companies said, starting with the next cadet intakes.

SEAker System Technologies operates the SEAker platform, a Philippine maritime ecosystem spanning recruitment, learning, records and welfare, and is part of the MaritimeCity Group of Companies. MarinePals, operated by Maritime Knowledge Limited of Hong Kong, provides maritime learning content and GlobalMET-standard electronic training record books to the global industry.