A.P. Moller – Maersk Launches India’s First Women Seafarers’ Cadet Program

On the occasion of the International Day for Women in Maritime, A.P. Moller – Maersk’s (Maersk) declared India’s first seafarers’ cadet program for women. Young women wanting to pursue a career in seafaring may enroll in the program facilitated by AMET in Chennai, on completing high school and choosing between the three-year bachelor in Nautical Science and the four-year bachelor in engineering degree courses.

By encouraging women to pursue such courses and making sure they have access to the right academics and in a safe and secure environment, Maersk is striving to improve Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) in the future.

By 2027, Maersk targets increasing the number of women as fresh cadets inducted up to 50% from a 7.6% observed in 2021. To achieve its target, Maersk is working on building a talent pool of women seafarers via this program. Therefore, the firm has collaborated with AMET, Chennai, to launch a unique cadet program that offers appropriate opportunities for honing the social and technical skills required to help women pursue the profession.

This program will make sure infrastructural advancements at the facility are desirable and suitable for residential female students. It will undertake cultural enhancements that cater to a physically and psychologically safe environment, and also deploy a vigilant administrative policy at the educational institution.

Maersk will be playing an active role in providing continuous care to students who are enrolling for the program via regular visits to the center, one-on-one communication with students, direct contact with representatives of Maersk, and other initiatives.

The seafaring community has largely been male-dominated and hasn’t progressed at the pace as the mainstream corporates have. This needs to change and to usher in the change, it is essential to start at a grass-root level, said Asia’s Head of Marine HR of Maersk, Karan Kochhar.

Reference: maersk.com