Women’s Shipping Association Receives Sustainability Award

The Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA) has been awarded the SAFETY4SEA Sustainability Award for enhancing opportunities and supporting the role of women in the maritime industry on a global level.

The SAFETY4SEA Awards were presented as part of the SAFETY4SEA Conference in London. The award process was a combination of open nomination and vote and the objective was to communicate and celebrate exceptional performance of the organizations that contributed toward sustainable shipping.

WISTA is a networking association of women at management level positions in the shipping industry. It was founded in 1974 by six women from three European countries. Today, WISTA International has 40 member-countries around the globe with almost 3,000 members.

“Receiving such a prestigious award is a recognition that diversity and equal opportunities matter within our industry,” said Karin Orsel, president of WISTA International. “WISTA International has been advocating the importance of increasing the competences and professional development for female leaders in the maritime industry for many years; it is common knowledge that a diverse team leads to more creativity, success and thus profit. There is still a long way to go in many regions of the world, but we work hard to cultivate and establish women in the best industry in the world.”

Katerina Stathopoulou, member of the executive committee of WISTA International, accepted the award on behalf of WISTA.

“Diversity in the workforce promotes sustainability and this can only be achieved by engaging the underutilized talents of the female workforce,” she said. “In the maritime industry, male and female talent and skills are complementary, and therefore, shipping women are indispensable to the maritime world.”