Charting a Digital Course: AIMS and SEAker Sign Landmark Partnership to Advance Excellence in Maritime Education and Training
The Asian Institute of Maritime Studies partners with SEAker for Onboard Training monitoring, e-TRB, research, and alumni tracing, advancing its legacy of excellence in maritime education and training.
Dr. Felicito P. Dalaguete, Ed.D, LLM, Chief Executive Officer of AIMS (center, in green), and Capt. James Nikko R. Hosana, Founder, President and CEO of SEAker (in blazer), sign the Memorandum of Agreement at the AIMS campus in Pasay City, joined by officials of the AIMS School of Merchant Marine and the SEAker team. 11-Aug-2026.
PASAY CITY, Philippines, 11-Aug-2026 In a move that signals where maritime education is heading, the Asian Institute of Maritime Studies (AIMS), one of the country's most respected maritime higher education institutions, has formally signed a Memorandum of Agreement with SEAker System Technologies Inc., the fast growing Filipino maritime technology company, to digitize how AIMS monitors, verifies, and tracks the journey of its cadets from classroom to career.
The agreement names SEAker as the institution's exclusive digital partner for Onboard Training (OBT) monitoring, electronic Training Record Book (e-TRB) management, and compliance oversight. It also establishes collaboration on research and an alumni tracer program designed to keep AIMS connected to its graduates long after they have left the harbor.
For an industry that has run on paper logbooks and manual record keeping for generations, the significance is hard to overstate.
"Every Filipino cadet carries a story that deserves to be recorded accurately, their training, their sea time, their growth into competent officers,” said Capt. James Nikko R. Hosana, Founder, President and CEO of SEAker, who signed on behalf of the company. “What we are building with AIMS is not just software. It is trust you can verify. When an AIMS cadet says they completed their onboard training, the data proves it, anywhere in the world.”
AIMS executives and faculty join the SEAker team for the ceremonial signing, held under a screen that welcomed SEAker System Technologies, Inc. aboard.
The partnership pairs the AIMS legacy in maritime education with SEAker's patent-pending verification technology, which cross references a cadet's onboard training against real vessel movement data to confirm sea time with a level of integrity that manual systems cannot match. For maritime schools navigating the tightening compliance expectations of MARINA, CHED, and international STCW standards, that verification layer is quickly becoming essential rather than optional.
Signing for the institution was Dr. Felicito P. Dalaguete, Ed.D, LLM, Chief Executive Officer of AIMS. The ceremony drew the institution's academic and administrative leadership, among them Dr. Winnie P. Bandong, PhD ME, Dean of the School of Merchant Marine, Dr. Joy M. Garner, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Ms. Xessilaylah Cada-Lee, Director for Data and Systems, together with the AIMS finance heads, the executive team, and the legal team. Their presence signaled an institution wide commitment, carrying forward the nation building vision set by AIMS founder Capt. Wilijado P. Abuid, rather than a single office decision.
“AIMS has always believed that excellence in maritime education means preparing our cadets not just for today's ships, but for tomorrow's industry,” said Dr. Dalaguete. “This partnershipbrings that future into our classrooms and onto our training vessels. Our cadets, our faculty, and our partner shipping companies will all feel the difference.”
AIMS Chief Executive Officer Dr. Felicito P. Dalaguete and SEAker Founder Capt. James Nikko R. Hosana review the agreement before signing.
Beyond training records, the collaboration extends to research, giving AIMS data driven insight into how its cadets perform and progress, and to an alumni tracer program that transforms a routine accreditation requirement into a living network. Instead of chasing graduates for survey responses years after the fact, AIMS will be able to see, in near real time, where its alumni sail, how they advance, and how the institution's training translates into real careers at sea.
It is a quietly radical idea, that a maritime school's relationship with a cadet should not end at graduation, but continue across an entire career.
The signing brought together the leadership of both institutions at the AIMS boardroom in Pasay City.
The AIMS and SEAker agreement adds to SEAker's rapidly expanding footprint across the Philippine maritime ecosystem, which now serves more than 90,000 registered seafarers across both merchant marine cargo and cruise vessels, along with a growing roster of manning agencies and maritime schools. For both parties in the room, the day was less about scale and more about standard setting.
As one AIMS official put it while the ink dried, this is not a school adopting a tool. This is a school helping define what modern maritime education should look like, and inviting the rest of the industry to follow its wake.
About SEAker
SEAker System Technologies Inc. is a Philippine maritime technology company building the digital infrastructure of the maritime industry, connecting seafarers, cadets, maritime schools, training centers, and manning agencies on one trusted platform. Its patent-pending sea-time verification technology cross references onboard training against real vessel movement data to deliver records that can be trusted anywhere in the world.
For more information, contact SEAker System Technologies Inc. at info@seaker.ph.