Shipping will face problems in the future if it cannot attract young female students as they graduate from university, Norwegian Shipowners’ Association president Synnove Seglem says.

Seglem, who is also deputy chief executive of Knutsen OAS Shipping, told the TradeWinds Shipowners Forum Oslo that shipping needs to attract all the “clever people” that it can find, not by hiring from just the male 50% of the workforce.

That requires shipping to be attractive for everyone, she said.

Shipping leaders increasingly recognise the need to appeal to a diverse talent pool to tackle the key challenges, particularly decarbonisation and digitalisation, that are reshaping the industry.

Seglem noted that in Norway, a majority of university students are women.

“If we are not able to get them, I think that we will be in big trouble soon,” she said in a recently released video recording of the event.

But she said achieving diversity in shipping is a long-term effort.

“It’s not a quick fix. I think you need to cooperate with the owners and the companies that you work in,” she said. “You need to set goals. You need to talk about the goals.”

Seglem, the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association’s second female president, said shipping also needs to cooperate with educational institutions.

And it is not just to attract women, but all the “clever” young people, including men.

Click here to view the full recording of the TradeWinds Shipowners Forum Oslo during Nor-Shipping.

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