Wista News

Speakers at the 2025 WISTA AGM and Conference, held in Barcelona October 22-24, shared their thoughts on collaboration across maritime, trade, and logistics as a key to achieving goals on equality, gender diversity and decarbonization.The event, the largest staged by the association in its more than 50-year history, brought together over 400 maritime professionals and leaders from around the world.In her keynote speech, WISTA International President, Elpi Petraki stressed that…

The second Women in Maritime survey, jointly published by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA), provides new insights into gender diversity within the industry. The report presents data on the proportion and distribution of women working in the maritime sector from IMO Member States and the private sector.The results are based on an analysis of a larger number of women working in maritime across the public and private sectors: 176,820 women in 2024 compared to 151,979 in 2021.

Maritime entrepreneur is a long-time advocate for diversity and inclusion in the shipping industry. Ms. Karin Orsel, co-founder and CEO of the MF Shipping Group based in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, has been selected to receive the 2025 IMO Gender Equality Award. The Award is bestowed on individuals who have made significant contributions to advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women in the maritime sector. The IMO Council endorsed Ms. Orsel as next year's recipient during its 133rd session held in London from 18 to 22 November 2024.

The second Women in Maritime Survey has been launched to gather baseline data about women’s participation in the maritime and ocean fields.Conducted every three years by the IMO and the Women's International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA International), the survey takes a global snapshot of how many women work in these sectors and in what roles.The aim is to analyze trends and support the creation of programs and policies to boost women’s participation in maritime. The previous study…

Cathrin Prikker has been appointed President of WISTA Germany and plans to use her platform to promote empowerment, connection and dialogue in the industry.Prikker heads up waste management company Top Glory Marine along with fellow Managing Director (MD), Silke Fehr.After entering the maritime industry and seeing it was largely dominated by men, Prikker became passionate about diversity and empowerment and joined WISTA after wanting to be involved in change through an organization…

Guy Platten, Secretary General of ICS, has been awarded the prestigious Man of the Year Award by the Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association , UK (WISTA, UK).The award ceremony was the flagship event of WISTA’s 50 Years Summer Celebration which took place at the IMO headquarters in London.The awards were presented by IMO Secretary General, Arsenio Dominguez, and President of WISTA UK, Monica Kohli.The award celebrates Guy Platten's unwavering commitment to advancing gender diversity and inclusion within the maritime industry.

The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) announced it has appointed Elizabeth Bouchard as its next Executive Director. She will become the 15th person to serve in this capacity since the organization’s founding in 1893, and she will assume the helm at SNAME Headquarters on July 1, 2024, succeeding Valerie Hutnan.Bouchard comes to SNAME from International Registries, Inc. (IRI), where she served as Senior Vice President, Regulatory Administration. Bouchard also served as Deputy Commissioner of Maritime Affairs for the RMI Maritime Administrator…

Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou voiced gratitude at being selected as recipient of the first ever IMO Gender Equality award, presented by Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez ahead of the International Maritime Organization Women in Maritime 2024 event. The award recognized Co-Chief Executive Officer of Tototheo Maritime, Ms. Panayiotou Theodosiou's leading and pivotal role in advancing gender equality and empowering women through her tenure as President of WISTA International.The IMO said Ms.

This year’s International Day for Women in Maritime focuses on the crucial role of women in ensuring maritime safety worldwide, while highlighting the changing attitudes towards gender in the industry.Observed globally on May 18 every year, Women in Maritime Day seeks to raise the profile of women in maritime, while promoting their recruitment, retention and sustained employment in the sector. Currently, only 29% of the overall maritime workforce and 20% of the workforce of national maritime authorities are women. Women make up less than 2% of seafarers worldwide.

The role women play in ensuring maritime safety will be celebrated worldwide by the IMO on this year's International Day for Women in Maritime. Observed globally each year on May 18, International Day for Women in Maritime aims to promote the recruitment, retention and empowerment of women in the sector, as well as a barrier-free work environment.Ahead of the day, the IMO will host an international symposium on Friday, May 17 at IMO headquarters in London, under the theme ‘Safe…

Karin Orsel has been appointed the first female President ever in the history of the European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA), starting on January 1, 2024 for a two-year term, with Mikki Koskinen joining as the new Vice-President. She succeeds Philippos Philis, who has held the position since January 2022.Commenting on her appointment, new ECSA President Karin Orsel said, “The strategic role of European shipping for the security of the Europe has come to the forefront.

The IMO invites everyone in the maritime industry to celebrate the International Day for Women in Maritime on social media using the hashtag #WomenInMaritimeDay.The International Day for Women in Maritime is held each year on May 18 to celebrate women working across the maritime industry. This year's theme is: “Mobilizing networks for gender equality”.The day celebrates women in the industry and promotes the recruitment, retention and sustained employment of women in the maritime sector…

Seven IMO Member States have nominated a candidate for the post of Secretary-General of the IMO in what could be a win for diversity in maritime.Three of the seven are women, and if elected, Nancy Karigithu of Kenya would also be the first African to hold the post. The other female nominees are Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry (Dominica) and Minna Kivimäki (Finland).They are joined by nominees Moin Uddin Ahmed (Bangladesh), Suat Hayri Aka (Türkiye), Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco (Panama) and Zhang Xiaojie (China).The term of the current incumbent…

The maritime industry’s movement toward remote vessel operations will not only build a more diverse workforce, it will benefit from it, argues marine robotics company Ocean Infinity.Greater workforce diversity, whether it be considered along lines of ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality, age, socioeconomic status, neurotype, physical ability or any other parameter, has shifted over the course of the last decade from a ‘nice to have’ to a fundamental value. The modern view of society that the thought leaders at Ocean Infinity subscribe to, is often characterized as ‘intersectionality’.

WISTA International (Women's International Shipping and Trading Association) elected their new President, Elpi Petraki, from WISTA Hellas, at its Annual General Meeting on October 26, in Geneva, Switzerland. WISTA International consists of 56 National WISTA Association (NWA) and each one is represented by the President or a delegate at AGM and casts their vote for their country's choice for the President.Petraki, Operations, Chartering & Business Development Manager at ENEA Management, said "I am truly honoured to have been elected as President of WISTA International.

“Until every employee, and every midshipman, and cadet, and every trainee trusts the system and until all allegations are handled properly, abuse will continue to occur, it will continue to go unreported, and people will continue to suffer alone—and that is simply intolerable,” said Lucinda Lessley, Acting Maritime Administrator, presenting at the Connecticut Maritime Association Shipping Expo and Conference, in February.On March 30, the Maritime Administration (MARAD) released…

The Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA) executive committee held its election for three executive positions during their International AGM on October 13. The AGM was hosted in Hamburg alongside a conference that is taking place today and Friday.Connie Roozen, WISTA Netherlands, retains her position as treasurer for another term, whilst two new members were elected as Executive Committee members, Sofia Fu¨rstenberg Stott, WISTA Sweden and Nazli Selek…

The rapidly changing face of maritime shipping and what it means for the future will be the theme for this year’s WISTA International Conference to be held in Hamburg on October 14 and 15.WISTA Germany is hosting the Conference and the AGM from October 13 which will be the first live event for WISTA members since 2019. The theme for the 41st conference is ‘Shipping 2025 – Today’s actions for tomorrow’s business.’ Among the topics are open discussions on climate change and how…

Educated and trained as an engineer, Yuri Sakurada shares insights on her path to a leadership role at DNV.While many careers in maritime start with a passion for the sea, this was not the case with Yuri Sakurada, HR Director, DNV Maritime, who fell into maritime by chance following her engineering studies at the University of Osaka. “But I must say that my passion for the industry has grown since I started to work for DNV as a surveyor for new maritime projects in Japan, many years back.”While Sakurada’s path did not start on the maritime track…

As a former master mariner with Maersk Line and currently the Managing Director of V.Ships, Germany, Ulla Nielsen was a natural choice to kick off Maritime Reporter & Engineering News’ profiles in maritime female leadership in the run up to the Women's International Shipping & Trading Association’s (WISTA) annual conference, scheduled to be held in person October 12-15, 2021 in Hamburg, Germany.Ulla, to start, can you provide some insight on your maritime career path?My background is as a master mariner sailing with Maersk Line…

Methanol-to-hydrogen generator technology company e1 Marine announced it has appointed Maite Klarup as its commercial director.Tapped to lead the implementation of e1 Marine’s commercial strategy, Klarup brings to the role more than 20 years of leadership experience from her time at BIMCO, THOME Group, Nordana and WISTA across shipping markets in North and South America, Europe and Southeast Asia.Stuart Crawford, managing director of e1 Marine, said, “[Klarup’s] extensive experience…

Sea Ranger Service, the Netherlands-based company that has been carrying out surveying and research tasks in the North Sea with emissions-free sailing offshore work vessels since 2018, has appointed Christel Pullens as its new managing director effective March 1, 2021.A WISTA board member with nearly 25 years of technical and commercial experience in shipbuilding and offshore, including as senior sales manager projects at Dockwise (now Boskalis), head of sales and marketing at Damen Shiprepair & Conversion and global sales and marketing director at Alewijnse…

A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions—all day, every day.We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.From challenge comes change, so let's all choose to challenge.In this guest blog, Dryad's Belle Davenport, shares how her preconceptions about the maritime industry…