Monday, February 6, 2017

News: Martek bucking the trend in maritime industry

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Rotherham success story, Martek Marine is bucking the trend on the gender divide as it continues to make waves in the global maritime industry.

Based at Manvers, Martek Marine is one of the world leaders in the supply of safety and environmental monitoring systems for the shipping industry.

Historically marine industries have been significantly male dominated but Martek Marine now boasts a leadership team which is made up of 75% women.

Martek launched in 1999 with three employees and £6,000 in start up capital in the smallest unit in the RiDO-run Century Business Centre. It now employs over 60 people at purpose built premises in Adwick Park and its products can be found in vessels across the globe.

The business serves 80 different countries and women currently make up 45% of their entire workforce.

Several attempts have been made in recent years to try to increase the number of women in the industry.

In 2014 The World Maritime University (WMU) and IMO published a book to highlight the achievements of women in the maritime sector, concluding the maritime industry needs more women, particularly in leadership roles.

A year later the IMO launched the video “"Making Waves: women leaders in the maritime world" in support of International Women's Day 2015. The video reports on continuing efforts by IMO and the World Maritime University (WMU) to promote the advancement of women in shipping.

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Also in 2015, the International Transport Workers' Federation estimated that only 2% of the world's maritime workforce is made up of women but for Martek this is not something that has proven to be a problem at all.

Paul Luen, CEO of Martek Marine, said: "Here at Martek we see gender as completely irrelevant, it is just about the best people for the job.

"As we have evolved it just so happens that the most talented, energetic, highest performing managers that embrace our culture and unite in pursuit of our mission are female."

Charlie Whyman, marketing manager at Martek Marine, added: "The industry is most certainly changing, not only here at Martek, but as a whole. A lack of women was historically seen as a problem and potentially put other women off taking up roles. Now there are not only more women working across maritime businesses but also helping run them which can only be good for the industry.

"Men and women have very different viewpoints and ideas so the gender diverse workforce here enables better problem solving and discussion which ultimately leads to superior performance of the business."

Martek Marine website

Images: Martek Marine


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