Maersk nears Equal At Sea 2027 goal

Maersk, a global integrator of logistics, announced a significant milestone under its Equal At Sea initiative in India. With 45 percent of the nautical and engineering cadets onboarded in 2024 being women, Maersk has inched closer to its 2027 target of equal gender representation amongst its cadet intake, says an official release.

"Launched in 2022, the Equal At Sea initiative enters its third year, and the programme's primary objective is to achieve gender equality among Maersk seafarers, address the historical underrepresentation of women among seafarers and create an ecosystem for the entire Indian maritime sector to improve gender diversity. The programme brings different stakeholders across the industry on a common platform, which serves as a hub for exchanging ideas, understanding industry challenges, learning from each other, and implementing best practices. "

Karan Kochhar, Head of Marine People, Asia, Maersk says: "Our continuous efforts and immense support from the industry has started realising the future of creating an equitable environment at sea for women to thrive in. Through our initiatives, we have successfully inspired more women in India to choose seafaring as a career.

“Getting to 45 percent has been a great team effort within Maersk and across the industry. Now is the time to keep the momentum up and strive to ensure that the women recruited are also retained in the fleet."

Freddy Svane, Ambassador of Denmark to India adds that by championing diversity in maritime careers, Maersk is not only steering towards equality but also charting a course for innovation and growth in the shipping industry. The seas know no gender. Denmark and India, as maritime nations, must lead this tide of change.

“This industry-wide effort to create more opportunities for women in maritime careers will undoubtedly strengthen our global shipping community and drive progress and sustainability in the years to come."

The theme of the third edition of Equal At Sea held in Mumbai was "Propelling Change Together." The conference covered three key segments: Sustainable Equality: Going Beyond the On-boarding, which explored workplace culture and harassment through an interactive discussion; Sea-side Chat - Not All Ceilings Are Made of Glass, celebrating pioneering women in male-dominated fields, and an in-depth discussion on the topic All Women on Board: Myth or Reality?.

Speakers included Captain Daniel Joseph, Deputy Director General of Shipping; Harjeet Joshi, ex-chairperson, Shipping Corporation of India; Sutapa Sanyal, Founder Director, D&I India Consultants and Deepak Shetty, Senior Advisor - India, The Maritime Anti-Corruption Network.

The success of the Equal At Sea initiative in India has also contributed significantly to Maersk's global progress in improving gender diversity, the release added. "The number of women seafarers in the Maersk fleet has more than doubled, from 295 in 2021 to over 650 and counting in 2024. The percentage of women in Maersk's global seafarer pool has risen from 2.3 percent in 2022 to 5.5 percent in 2024."