The 2022 CAREER4SEA Forum took place virtually on December 14th, focusing on ways to attract the young generation and raise its profile to stakeholders outside the sector.
Participants of this year’s event highlighted that maritime industry is an exciting sector that offers many opportunities and a wide range of options to those who are currently in the pursuit of a promising career.
Furthermore, it was highlighted that the maritime industry must start actively engaging with and investing in the next generation of seafarers if it wants to keep supply chains sustainable over the next decades. Young people today are very dynamic, empowered and are genuinely passionate about using their talents to create a positive impact. They will go where they feel valued, respected, and inspired, so the maritime industry needs to step up and address holistically Diversity, Equity and Inclusion issues.
The event was organized by SAFETY4SEA having as lead sponsors the following organizations: MacGregor and SQEMARINE. Other sponsors were: American Club, ARCADIA SHIPMANAGEMENT CO. LTD, Blue Planet Shipping Ltd, Capital-Executive Ship Management Corp., Capital Gas Ship Management Corp., Capital Shipmanagement, Columbia Ship Management, Diaplous, Dorian LPG, Eastern Mediterranean Maritime Limited (EASTMED), EURONAV, Green Jakobsen, Latsco Marine Management Inc., Metropolitan College, North of England P&I Club, OCEANKING, RISK4SEA, SEAFiT, Standard Club, Steamship Mutual, UK Club.
Session #1 – Shipping Past, Present, Future
The first panel of the event, moderated by Namrata Nadkarni, Founder & CEO, Intent Communications Ltd addressed key focus areas for the post pandemic shipping. The following experts participated: Costas Th. Kontes, Managing Director, V.Ships Greece Ltd.; Irene Notias, Country Manager, Sing Fuels Hellas & Founder, Director, Project Connect; Johan Smith, Head of Wellness, Sailors’ Society and; Evangelos Tzitzis, Unmanned Systems Manager, Diaplous Group.
A presentation by Apo Belokas, Managing Editor, SAFETY4SEA followed which focused on trends shaping the career opportunities in shipping. Furthermore, Nikos Marmatsouris, Group Senior Marketing Manager, GAC Shipping SA gave a presentation that serves as a piece of career advice to young shipping professional.
Session #2 – The Perfect Applicant
Experts of this panel, moderated by Gina Panayiotou, ESG Manager, West of England P&I Club, gave their advice to young people who are interested in joining shipping and highlighted the need to invest more in soft skills and skills development. The following stakeholders participated: Cara Carter, Director, Halcyon Recruitment; Capt. Spyros Kyriakopoulos, Training Manager, Prime; Nina Natsolari, HR Manager, ERMA FIRST; Elpiniki Stylogianni, HR Manager, Almi Tankers S.A. and; Stamatios Tzanakis, Programme Leader, Metropolitan College
Sarah Tangan, Career Counsellor, International Maritime Recruiters Consulting, gave a presentation that focused on reasons to join the shipping industry and what career prospects the industry offers.
Bjarke Jakobsen, Partner and Senior Consultant, Green Jakobsen suggested useful tools to equip leaders and create an attractive working environment.
Session #3 – Life onboard
The third panel, moderated by Sandra Psychogiou, Editor In Chief, SAFETY4SEA, involved discussion with seafarers/ captains on challenges at sea. The following seafarers participated: Oleksandr Kovalenko, Chief Officer, Ukrainian, Crude Oil Tanker, Euronav; Capt. Panagiotis Georgoulopoulos, Master, Maran Dry Management Inc.; Dimitrios Kylafis, Chief Engineer, Maran Gas Maritime Inc.; Capt. Theodoros Thymiakos, Master, Maran Tankers Management Inc. and; Capt. Nikolaos Tsakalis, Master/Aframax/Suezmax,Greece, Kyklades Maritime Corporation, who shared at first hand experience of work and life onboard, discussed about the skills that their occupation requires, the pros and cons, encouraging the young generation to join a career at sea.
The session ended with a presentation by Project Connect entitled ‘The first Virtual Shipping Company Tour’ which explained the reasons behind this initiative that has created the 1st CV online data base just for students and grads of Shipping, since 2015.
Session #4 – Shipping industry as an attractive working environment
The last panel was moderated by Maria Mavroudi, Founding Partner, Searock Marine and included the following experts: Capt. Sudhir Malhotra, Senior Surveyor Loss Prevention, Standard Club.; Capt. VS Parani, Vice President – Marine, Tufton Asset Management Ltd.; Sue Terpilowski, Managing Director, Image Line Communications Ltd; and Capt. Sokratis Tigkos, Crew Manager/Marine Manager, Omicron Ship Management. Experts highlighted that industry needs to become more open to the young talents by embracing DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) while psychological safety and mental health & wellbeing are currently top issues to address.
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