‘On 8 March every year, UN Women and the entire United Nations system celebrate International Women’s Day.

‘This year, the theme for International Women’s Day is DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.

‘This has great relevance for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) family.

Retired Harbour Master Carita Rönnqvist followed her dreams to enjoy a long career at sea and in port. Here she talks about her experiences during an era of change in the maritime world.

Carita Rönnqvist, a retired Harbour Master from Finland always wanted to go to sea – like her father did before her. She grew up hearing wonderful stories of faraway places and wanted to see for herself. 

News has been received that aids to navigation manufacturer Mediterraneo Señales Maritimas, otherwise known as MSM: www.mesemar.com  has carried out a case study for the upgrade of six lighthouses on the Malaga coast of Spain.

A workshop was held in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, from 20 to 24 February to improve the country’s ability to respond swiftly and effectively in the event of an oil pollution incident. The event was the result of Guinea Bissau’s request for help in developing their National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCP) from the Global Initiative for West, Central and Southern Africa (GI WACAF).

IMO officials visited Alexandria, Egypt from 10 to 14 February to commence liaising on plans to open an IMO Regional Presence Office (RPO) there for the Middle East and North Africa. The office will be situated within the premises of the Egyptian Authority for Maritime Safety (EAMS) in the port of Alexandria. 

Member States and observers at IMO paid their tribute to the victims of the earthquakes that struck Türkiye and Syria on 6 February 2023, causing widespread destruction across densely populated cities and claiming more than 46,000 lives so far, with the numbers sadly increasing by the hour.

On 9 February the US Coast Guard issued Safety Alert 04-22-CH1 from Washington, DC.

This Safety Alert addresses the importance of verifying the correct arrangement of handholds in embarkation gate arrangements aboard merchant vessels.

It is understood that the Coast Guard is currently investigating a casualty

It was reported from Accra, Ghana, on 15 February that experts from the Maritime Just Transition Task Force had told Africa’s maritime leaders that their continent was well placed to take a large share of the new jobs and training places expected from shipping’s green transition.

A new one-stop-shop portal which aims to support the implementation of the Just in Time (JIT) arrivals concept has been launched.

It is understood that the free-to-access portal was developed by the Global Industry Alliance to Support Low Carbon Shipping (Low Carbon GIA) and is hosted on the IMO-Norway GreenVoyage2050 project website. This reported by IMO in a briefing on 8 February.

Designating transport workers, including seafarers, as keyworkers and ensuring such workers’ needs and challenges are voiced during a pandemic are among the recently published recommendations from a joint United Nations and industry sector action group.