More women are joining the maritime ranks in a variety of professions within the industry, said International Maritime Organization (IMO).
To encourage this trend, IMO supported a training course aimed at female officials from maritime and port authorities.
According to the UN body, 25 women from 17 developing countries took part in the two-week "Women in Port Management" course, hosted in Le Havre, France (24 June - 5 July).
The course covered lectures on port management, port security, marine environment, facilitation of maritime traffic, marketing, port logistics and other topics. Participants learnt about the necessary skills required to improve the management and operational efficiency of their ports.
Visits were organized to the Port of Le Havre and the Port of Rouen, giving participants the chance to experience for themselves the day-to-day operations of a port, with a view to applying this knowledge back in their respective countries.
The port management course was delivered through IMO's Women in Maritime program, supported by the Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China and in partnership with the Port Institute for Education and Research (IPER) and the Le Havre Port Authority.
It comes as part of IMO's ongoing and increasing efforts to support the UN Sustainable Development Goal number five: achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
This is the 15th training event of its kind. So far, 333 women have received training under this activity. Demand for the course has continued to grow substantially over the past years.