Maritime Women Shine at the ATPI-MAREX Conf & Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award Conferred upon Mrs Neera Saggi

Padmesh Prabhune

The ATPI MAREX- International Maritime Women-Empowerment Conference & Awards 2023 was successfully held at The Club, Andheri, in the western suburbs of Mumbai on May 18th, in all its serious sincerity and with some fun and frolic at the end as well.

The event began with traditional lighting of Diyas at the hands of Mrs H.K Joshi, along with Capt Kamal Chadha, Dr Sunitha Sundar, Capt Tushar Pradhan, and Capt Sankalp Shukla.

Capt Chadha, MD & Editor, Marex Media, welcomed the guests, followed by a speech from Mrs H.K Joshi, Chairperson of the Advisory Board of the ATPI-MAREX International Maritime Women-Empowerment Conference & Awards 2023, & Former CMD, The Shipping Corporation of India Limited. She complemented MAREX for being the pioneer in celebrating the International Day for Women, adhering to the IMO resolution every year since its inception in 2022.

The Guest of Honour- Dr Sunitha Sundar, Chennai based academician and Lawyer in Maritime, having a rich experience in arbitration and disputes, addressed the audience with her inspiring learnings over the years.

Thereafter keynote speaker Sudha Shah, a former Test & One Day International cricketer, then representing Tamilnadu in domestic and international matches, shared her experiences of gender differentials mentioning the fact that over-arm bowling was initiated by women way back in 1800 by legendary Christina Wiles and not by men, catching the attention further as she said that women played the first world cup in 1973, only to be followed by men in 1975, and then counting ‘the firsts’ by women in cricket; be it the 50-over or 20-20 match formats.

The Conference, held to mark the beginning of a new era in women empowerment, was all about deliberations & discussions to ensure more and more women opt for a career in Maritime.

The conference was equally categorized in three sessions with 2 Panel Discussions and a Fireside chat to strike a balance, making the exchanges more lively and interesting.

The speakers included the stalwarts from across the maritime industry of the likes of Mrs H.K Joshi, Former CMD, The Shipping Corporation of India Limited;  Capt Tushar Pradhan, General Secretary, The Maritime Union of India; Capt Girish Phadnis, Chairman MASSA, and Director & Country Head, MTM  Ship Management India Pvt Ltd; Capt Dinesh Jairam, Global Talent Acquisition Manager, Seaspan Crew Management India Pvt. Ltd; Capt Karan Kochhar, Director, Head of Marine People (Asia), MAERSK; Maritime Pilot, Ms Reshma Nilofer; Ms Chaitaly Mehta, Convenor Women’s Wing, Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations of India & Director EKF Global Logistics Pvt Ltd;  Dr Aprajita  Bhardwaj, Psychologist & Trainer- non technical skills for Merchant Marine officers; Mr David Birwadkar, Advisor-Shipping, The Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd, & Head, The Great Eastern Institute of Maritime Studies; Lt Cdr Annu Prakash, Indian Navy, and several others from the maritime industry, giving insights from the gender equality perspective.

The Moderators for the discussions were Ms Vinita Venkatesh, MD Ocean2Door Cargo Logistics Co; Capt Sankalp Shukla, M.D. (CSC I), Bernhard Schulte Ship Management (India) Pvt Ltd, & Chairman FOSMA; and Capt Prabhat Nigam, V. P (Maritime) & Principal- School of Maritime Studies, Chitkara University, Punjab, & President- Maritime Trainers Guild.

Across the many points deliberated it was agreed that though gender equality and equity remains priority across all the commercial sectors, the fact that women participation in maritime sector needs a boost and increasing awareness about the maritime sector across the society at large is the need of the hour.

This is to be equally followed up with Recruitment Outreach programs to ensure more and more women join the maritime industry. While Dr (Capt) Shashank Jahagirdar made the concluding remarks summarizing the points stressing on women equality & equity, Mrs Mrunal Tanna delivered the vote of thanks to conclude the panel discussions.

The event also witnessed the official launch of the new forum- WIMA (Women In Maritime Asia) to propagate and work for the betterment of Women in Maritime in this part of the world. This is an initiative of Mrs Saleha Shaikh, head of the Women’s Wing of The Maritime Union of India.

As a salute to women empowerment, ‘Pearls of Wisdom’ a book containing quotes by in-the-limelight women from the maritime industry was released at the event. Mindspeak, a company headed by Dr Deepti Mankad, has published the book.

In its endeavor to appreciate and promote deserving women, the event included a unique ramp-presentation, the ‘Walk of Success’, wherein prominent women from across the sectors were presented.

Awards were conferred upon distinguished women in different categories, with His Excellency, the Norwegian Consul General, Mr. Arne Jan Flolo, doing the honours.

Mrs Neera Saggi was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award for her inspiring and selfless contributions to the industry.

–Marex Media

BOX

The Marex Maritime Women-Empowerment Award (MMWA)

CATEGORY: INDIVIDUAL

CATEGORY: Organization