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On the occasion of the first International Day for Women in Maritime, A.P. Moller – Maersk’s (Maersk) announced India’s first seafarers’ cadet programme dedicated to women.

Eligibility to apply

Young women who wish to choose a seafaring career can enroll in 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.

By promoting women to take up these courses and ensuring that they get access to the right academics in the right environment, Maersk is truly committing itself to improve Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) in the long run.

Reshaping the seafaring community

Women are reshaping the corporate world, taking on responsibilities in almost every sector" 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 the grass root level."

Improving the gender imbalance

"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," concludes Karan.

By 2027, Maersk aims to increase the proportion of women among the fresh cadets inducted to 50% from a baseline of 7.6% in 2021. 

Cadet programme

Maersk has partnered with AMET, Chennai, to roll out a cadet programme that will offer opportunities

To achieve this ambitious target, Maersk is creating a talent pool of women seafarers through this programme.

Therefore, the company has partnered with AMET, Chennai, to roll out a unique cadet programme that will offer appropriate opportunities necessary for honing the technical and social skills required to launch women into the profession.

Benefits of the programme

This programme will ensure infrastructural advancements at the facility that are suitable and desirable for residential female students, undertake cultural enhancement that takes care of a psychologically and physically safe environment, and implement a vigilant administrative practice at the educational institute.

Maersk will play an active role in providing constant care to the students enrolling for the programme through regular visits to the facility, one-on-one interactions with students, direct contact with Maersk representatives, and several other initiatives.

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