Number of Indian women seafarers in workforce sees 7-fold jump: Maersk

Mumbai: Integrated container logistics firm Maersk on Friday said the number of Indian women seafarers in its workforce in India has grown more than seven-fold to over 350 in the last three years, driven by its 'Equal at Sea' initiative launched in 2022 to bring gender equality in the country's maritime sector.

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 the best practices, according to Maersk.

"With recent cadet inductions, the number of Indian women seafarers has surpassed the 350 mark, from a mere 41 in 2021, contributing significantly to improving the diversity," the company announced here on Friday.

It also said that with 45 per cent of the nautical and engineering cadets onboarded in 2024 being women, the company has inched closer to its 2027 target of equal gender representation amongst its cadet intake.

The primary objective of the programme 'Equal at Sea' is to achieve gender equality among Maersk seafarers, address the historical under-representation of women amongst seafarers and create an ecosystem for the entire Indian maritime sector to improve gender diversity, said.

According to an industry estimate, women seafarers in India account for a meagre 0.7 per cent of total active seafaring workforce in the global maritime industry.

"The seas know no gender. 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," said Freddy Svane, Ambassador of Denmark to India at the third edition of 'Equal at Sea" summit hosted by Maersk here.

"Denmark and India, as maritime nations, must lead this tide of change," he said, adding, "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 success of the initiative in India has also contributed significantly to Maersk's global progress in improving gender diversity, the company said.

The number of women seafarers in the Maersk fleet has more than doubled, from 295 in 2021 to over 650 and counting in 2024, it said and added that the percentage of women in Maersk's global seafarer pool has risen from 2.3 per cent in 2022 to 5.5 per cent in 2024.

"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," said Karan Kochhar, Head of Marine People for Asia at Maersk.

The overall percentage of women cadets in this year's intake has gone up to 45 per cent and the nautical division has already crossed 50 per cent, Maesrk said.

It also said that building on the success of a sub-programme of 'Equal at Sea', launched last year that began with 22 women trainees in India, the company has added two subsequent batches and now has a total of 70 women ratings undergoing training.

Noting that getting to 45 per cent has been a team effort within Maersk and across the industry, Kochhar said, it is now the time to keep the momentum up and strive to ensure that the women recruited are also retained in the fleet.