Britain’s maritime sector has always evolved to keep pace with the latest technological innovations. Record-setting tea clippers like Cutty Sark were replaced as sail was superseded by steam-powered vessels, which could carry more cargo, further, faster than ever before and through all weathers. Today, in this digital age, we work in an era of satellite-guided ‘megaships’ such as the vast Milan Maersk, which can carry more than 20,500 shipping containers and visited ABP’s Port of Southampton for the first time last November. Accommodating these immense new vessels is just the latest adaptation that the ports sector has had to absorb, as advancing technology continues to present us with new challenges, but also new opportunities.

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IMO is continuing its ongoing efforts to ensure women can reach top ranks in the maritime sector, through its Women in Maritime programme.

IMO is continuing its ongoing efforts to ensure women can reach top ranks in the maritime sector, through its Women in Maritime programme. The latest event was a two-week training course for female officials from maritime and port authorities of developing countries, in Le Havre, France (11-22 June).

At the Institut Portuaire d’Enseignement et de Recherche (IPER), 23 female officials from 14 developing countries* had the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of port management and operational efficiency. They also took part in lectures on a variety of port matters including management, security, marine environment, marketing, tariffs and logistics as well as facilitation of maritime traffic, ship/port interface and concession contracts.

Delivered in French, organized visits to the Port of Le Havre and the Port of Rouen, enabled participants to experience for themselves the day-to-day operations of a port, with a view to applying this knowledge back in their respective countries.

The event was delivered through IMO’s gender and capacity-building programme, in collaboration with the Le Havre Port Authority. It comes as part of IMO’s continuous efforts to support the UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Demand for this course has continued to grow substantially over the past three years, however further funding will need to be secured to keep up with the increased demand.

Source: Devdiscourse

Would it surprise you to learn that on % there are as many Cruise ship captains as Airline captains. My first reaction was that this could not be accurate but investigation showed that World Wide there are 9 women cruise ship captains on the 314 cruise ships ( just under 3%) and there are 4000 women airline captains of the 130,000 captains flying (just over 3%). The UK is in an enviable position in both fields as of the 9900 UK aviators – 570 are women (just over 6%) of the 9 sea-going captains -2 are from Britain (25%). So who are these 9 wonder women who have managed to break through the male barrier and become the new Masters of the 21st century. The first shipping line carrying passengers started in 1818 but it was not until the late 1960´s that the modern cruise industry came into itself. So it has only taken 189 years until the first woman became a Captain on a passenger ship. Being generous and staying within the modern era we can congratulate society for accepting a female Captain 45 years later.

Swedish born Capt.Karin Stahre-Jansen had this honour in 2007 and in the following 10 years UK Capt.Sarah Breton, Swiss Capt. Margrith Ettlin, Usa Capt.Kate McCue,

Danish Capt.Lis Lauritzen, Italian Capt.Serena Melani, Faroe Isles Capt. Inger Olsen, German Capt.Nicole Langosch and UK Capt. Belinda Bennett who also has the added accolade of being the first black female cruise captain in history, started the change.

Not forgetting their hard work and climb through the ranks to reach Staff Captain positions putting them in an ideal situation to become Captains, alot has to be said for the change of mentality in the higher echelons of the Cruise Industry Management. In some of the shipping companies, women have become Presidents and Owners, paving the way to opening doors for female Masters. Fortunately for us women, we are finding barriers being broken daily in all fields and the shipping business is no exception!

Linda Reyes
WISTA UK – Cruising.

#Cruising #WISTAUK #Womeninshipping

At its inaugural meeting in London on 21 February, opened by recently appointed UK shipping minister Nusrat Ghani, taskforce chairperson Sue Terpilowski pledged that the group “would not be just a talking shop” and would give the government its initial recommendations within three months.

The taskforce will focus on how the UK maritime industry recruits women to the sector, the efforts it undertakes to retain them, and it will review remuneration, Terpilowski said.

“A lot of women enter the sector, but they just don’t stay. We need to find out why,” she added.

To assess how effective the taskforce is in its mission, the 30-strong group agreed that using a survey to map the gender balance of the UK maritime workforce – both onshore and at sea – is a necessary starting point for measuring the impact of change.

Nicola Good, executive editor Fairplay | 22 February 2018 Read the full article here

https://fairplay.ihs.com/safety-regulation/article/4297956/women-in-maritime-taskforce-to-map-gender-balance-in-uk-shipping