Maritime Authority Climax World Maritime Day Celebration With Parade At RMU

The Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) on Thursday, September 26, 2019, concluded its week-long celebration of this year’s World Maritime Day celebration with a parade at the Regional Maritime University.

The occasion was marked under the auspices of the GMA in collaboration with the Ghana Shippers Authority, the Regional Maritime University (RMU), and the Women in Shipping and Transport Association (WISTA)

During the three-day-long activity starting last Tuesday, women have been inspired by the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) theme for this year’s celebration, "Empowering Women in the Maritime Industry."

At the parade yesterday, various stakeholders converged together with several dignitaries and stress on the need for more women to be encouraged to take up careers in the maritime industry which continues to be overly-dominated by men.

Delivering his welcome address at the ceremony, Vice-Chancellor at the Regional Maritime University, Prof. Elvis Nyarko indicated that the school is looking to get more women trained and as such has implemented policies that will allow more enrollment.

“RMU believes that empowering women serves as a catalyst for economic growth and prosperity of nations within the global maritime community.

“Towards this end, the RMU has put in place many reforms to train more women for the maritime industry”, he said.

On his part, the Director-General for the Ghana Maritime Authority, Mr. Thomas Kofi Alonsi stressed on the need for all stakeholders to work together to help in the IMO’s mission of empowering women.

“We all have to be advocates of the IMO mission to empower many women in the maritime industry which is in line with one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals – (SDG 5) – Gender Equality," he noted.

He added, “Break down gender barriers by coming up with initiatives and policies that will priorities empowering women in the maritime industry”.

Ghana’s Minister of Transport, Mr. Kweku Ofori Asiamah noted that the journey to get more women into the maritime industry will not be easy but urged all advocates not to relent in their efforts.

“In our quest to encourage women it is not going to be easy. There is going to be turbulent but as a society determined to overcome that defect we must resolve that no matter the challenges that we will be facing as we go along the side of encouraging our women to take up a role in our maritime industry, we should be prepared that whatever challenges that come our way will overcome them”, he observed.

Report from the International Maritime Organization indicates that women represent only 2percent of the world’s 1.2 million population of seafarers. A statistic the IMO is working with its partners to significantly improve in the shortest possible time.

About World Maritime Day

Every year the International Maritime Organization (IMO) celebrates World Maritime Day. The exact date is left to individual Governments but it is usually celebrated during the last week in September, generally the last Thursday in the month.

World Maritime Day is used to focus attention on the importance of shipping safety, maritime security and the marine environment and to emphasize a particular aspect of IMO’s work.