Stinne Taiger Ivo has spent the past two years preparing to become the deputy secretary general of Bimco.
She is the first woman to take the role in the shipowner lobby group’s 119-year history.
Speaking to TradeWinds, Ivo considered how the job could make her a role model for other women thinking of entering the industry.
“I like that thought, that you are a role model, and being aware that other women are thinking they can do it, that they can make a career in shipping as a woman,” she said.
“I think the discussion on diversity is important to have in this industry and in general, but on a personal level, it is not one where I have found it too difficult.”
Ivo pointed out how international shipping is and the female industry leaders worldwide. She loves its global element, something clearly visible in Bimco’s membership.
Nor does she find daunting her new role of overseeing one of Bimco’s most notable functions — developing clauses and contracts that keep commercial shipping afloat.
Despite pointing to a raft of new or updated clauses that the industry could face in the coming year, it is a challenge that she seems to thrive on.
Not only is the Bimco war-risk clause being updated — it was set for revision before Red Sea tensions flared — but there is also work within Bimco subcommittees on charterparty clauses or guidance and data sharing and retrofits, especially in light of new emissions reduction and fuel efficiency rules.
There are also new clauses for the carriage and storage of CO2, a bunker clause for methanol as a fuel and one for ammonia as a fuel.
There could also be a clause for owners wishing to pool their vessels under next year’s FuelEU Maritime requirements, guidance or a clause for biofuels, and texts for offshore wind market contracts to supplement the existing Windtime and Supplytime charter contracts.
All new clauses are worked on by Bimco subcommittees of industry stakeholders and are run and coordinated by Bimco staff at its offices in a leafy suburb north of Copenhagen.
The workload is, Ivo said, quite hectic, but it has been from the day she joined. She is excited about the role, especially as shipping faces significant regulatory challenges.
Ivo joined Bimco in 2022 as director of contracts & support but was earmarked to become one of its deputy secretary generals.
She will be taking over the role from Soren Larsen, one of the longest-serving Bimco staff members, who will retire in May this year after 39 years.
Ivo joins two other deputy secretary generals at Bimco — Lars Robert Pedersen and Michael Lund — and secretary general David Loosley.
First steps in shipping
Her first foray into the maritime industry came when she was working on her PhD in international company law and focused on shipping, perhaps an unsurprising development given the proximity of Danish society to shipping interests.
This led to a stint at law firm Gorrissen Federspiel before joining Danish Shipping for two years, then heading off to run the Copenhagen-based claims department of Norwegian protection and indemnity insurer Skuld.
From there, she went to Bimco.
Ivo is the first female deputy secretary general at Bimco, but she is not the first woman in its history to take a leadership position.
Sadan Kaptanoglu of Turkey’s Kaptanoglu Shipping was president from 2019 to 2021, followed by Sabrina Chao of Wah Kwong, who held the role until 2023.
Today, they are two of three women on an otherwise all-male Bimco board.
