To encourage More women are joining the maritime ranks in a variety of professions within the industry and with a view to continuing the momentum to empower women in the maritime community, International Maritime Organization (IMO) is supporting a training course aimed at female officials from maritime and port authorities.

Twenty-two women from 10 francophone countries in Africa - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon,  Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Guinea, Madagascar, Senegal, Seychelles and Togo -, took part in the two-week "Women in Port Management" course, hosted in Le Havre, France (27 January - 7 February).

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 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.

To date, 355 women have received training under this activity through 16 training courses held at IPER.