A.P. Moller – Maersk’s announced India’s first seafarers’ cadet programme dedicated to women, on the occasion of the first International Day for Women in Maritime.
Those young women who wish to follow the path of seafaring can enrol for the programme facilitated by AMET, Chennai, after completing their high school (10+2) and choose between the three-year Bachelors in Nautical Science or the four-year Bachelors in Engineering degree courses.
With this programme, Maersk is committed to improving Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) in the long term by promoting women to attend these courses, ensuring that they have access to the right academics in the right environment.
“Women are reshaping the corporate world, taking on responsibilities in almost every sector, function and role,” said Karan Kochhar, head of marine HR – Asia, Maersk.
“However, the seafaring community, which has otherwise been male-dominated, has not progressed at the same pace as the mainstream corporates. This must change, and to bring about that change, it is necessary to start at grass root level. Women make 0.5% of the total Indian seafarers today. This gender imbalance can be improved if the whole industry makes efforts to provide proper career counselling to young women and their parents at the right age, facilitate the right academics, create job opportunities, ensure a safe and healthy work environment at sea, and ensure fair employment in the long-term to the women,” he highlighted.
By 2027, Maersk has set a goal of increasing the percentage of women among new students admitted to 50% from 7.6% in 2021.
To achieve this, Maersk is creating a pool of female seafarers through this programme.
As a result, the company partnered with AMET, Chennai, to develop a programme that will provide the right opportunities needed to enhance the technical and social skills required to get women into the profession.
At the same time, this programme will ensure infrastructure progress at the facility that are suitable and desirable for residential female students, will undertake cultural support that takes care of a psychologically and physically safe environment and will implement a vigilant administrative practice in the educational institution.
The company will provide ongoing care to students enrolled in the programme through regular on-site visits, one-on-one interactions with students, direct contact with Maersk representatives and many other initiatives.
