Shipping Podcast - this is where we talk about the coolest industry on the planet and help raise the maritime industry's profile.

Parenthood at sea

According to the IMO, 2% of seafarers are women at sea. I wonder what the percentage of Mummies at sea is!? Like 0.01%!!?! Less!!?!

A post on LinkedIn sparked my curiosity. Heather Enness, Master Mariner and mother of three, posted the above. Young people I meet in the maritime industry get questions about if they don't want to have a family since they are going to work at sea. I knew I just had to speak with Heather and find out if that is a hurdle nowadays, to be a parent and work at sea. What can we do to make the change?

Listen to Heather and hear her passion for her job, her love for her children and how she is a role model for young people today. Heather wishes that more companies in our industry dared to discuss parenthood at sea.

Every conversation matters. Are you able to bring these questions up in your everyday life?

Please drop me a line at [email protected] and spill your beans. Who knows, I might get more ideas from your feedback.

Thanks for listening.

Waves of change

In episode 207, you meet Matthew Schwab, Captain, CEO, and Subject Matter Expert. Matthew is a former Master Mariner who has gone ashore and is now using all his skills from his time at sea to business development and coaching.

Matthew believes in the true strength of blockchain and is sorry to see the TradeLens project being scrapped. We discuss web2 and web3, and Matthew explains the non-fungible token NFT. There are a lot of things to pick up on in this conversation.

Matthew is pushing innovation and is convinced that digitalisation will make the maritime industry sustainable, so we need to be more open and find collaboration.

What do you think? Please let me know. Send an email to [email protected]

Thank you for listening

The maritime industry from the view of a young Chinese woman

I received an email from a loyal listener in Shanghai who is entering her career in the maritime industry and wanted to tell me how much the Shipping Podcast has meant to her.

Of course, I wanted to speak to her and hear what she had to say about our industry not being so visible and unable to reach the #nextgeneration with our message to come and work.

In episode 206, you meet Anna Wu, Project Logistics Specialist in China. We speak about the Shipping Podcast, of course, but also how Anna feels that she can contribute to raising the profile of the maritime industry. And then I speak a lot about life as a podcaster.

What do you think? Drop me a line at [email protected] and let me know.

Thanks for listening.

From the Netherlands to South America and back again

In this episode, I am in conversation with Dita Bruijn, the Director North Sea of P&O Ferries. Dita is a true global maritime professional with an exciting career in the liner business who has now taken on the challenge of working with ferries. She is very interested in the digital transformation the maritime industry is experiencing. Dita Bruijn is passionate about shipping. You can hear that from her way of describing the industry to young people who she is engaging with, showing them the exciting stuff you, as a young person, can work with. Please let me know what you think about episode 205, and give Dita a shoutout for being such a great role model for the industry! Thanks for listening.

Our cultural values align with the Volvo Group and include customer focus, passion, teamwork, and professionalism.

There are so many good things to pick up on in this episode. Sustainability, leadership, courage, new tech, next generation. And all is connected. Everyone must take a leap of faith and dare to learn new things. That is how we will reach the maritime industry 2.0 - just like every line of business that wants to stay in business needs to do.

Listen to Heléne Mellquist, President of Volvo Penta, the former CEO of Rederi AB Transatlantic, a prominent Swedish shipowner at the time, but back in the Volvo Group for a while now. She talks about her passion for business, sees collaboration as the way forward, and is passionate about inclusiveness. It's all music to my ears and gives me hope for the future. What about you? What do you think? Please drop me a line at [email protected] and let me know. Thank you for listening.

IoT is not scary; it's enabling us to focus on exciting things

In episode 203, we meet a Change Agent who promotes and supports a new way of doing things. Marianna Levtov is currently working at Nexxiot, where she focuses on IoT, innovations, and digitised solutions in transport and logistics.

We discuss why shipping and maritime, which have been so instrumental in globalisation for a long time, are now viewing ourselves as not so advanced regarding new tech and digitalisation. We also talk about recruitment, different views and ways of leading the industry forward.

I hope you enjoy our conversation. Please give us a shout-out on social media.

Thanks for listening.

Powered by wind

Meet Niclas Dahl, Managing Director of Oceanbird, the startup company aiming to re-introduce wind as power for vessels transporting goods. It sounds like going backwards, but it's taking advantage of all new tech available, contributing to a sustainable maritime industry.

Listen to our conversation, which sails through the challenges of starting a new setup in an old-fashioned industry, diversity, leadership and unexpected collaborations. You don't want to miss out on this one. So download, listen and tell your friends! Bonus: have a look at the video.

Thank you for listening #everyconversationmatters

Life at sea.

In episode 201, Captain James Foong, Master Mariner from Malaysia, speaks about the life of a seafarer. We talk about the challenges, the marine family you belong to when onboard, the different cultures you meet and why being a Captain is being a Leader.

James is passionate about raising the profile of the maritime industry, and he does a good job. He is interested in the new media landscape and even landed a new white-collar job via LinkedIn, where he now has more than 28,000 followers. James is one of a kind. Please listen to our conversation and then give us a shoutout on social media.

Thank you for listening!

Unbelievable! I am celebrating the 200th episode of the Shipping Podcast!!

If anyone had told me when I started in 2015 that I would go on, releasing one new episode every other Friday, I would not have believed it. And yet, here we are!

I have met so many people, generous with their time and knowledge! And when I think back, I have learned so much!

Thanks to my listeners, I still feel like there are things to know and people to listen to, so you can be sure that more episodes from me will be released.

Procurement or purchase?

Maria Theodosiou, Managing Director, GenPro, is the interviewee in episode 199. She explains what a maritime procurement company brings to the maritime industry.

We speak about so many exciting topics, and Maria underlines the different moral compasses of the next generation. To lead them into the business, we must consider being open-minded, inclusive, brave, and approachable and creating a safe environment where it's possible to speak and ask about anything.

Maria leads by example and is passionate about bringing visibility and a spotlight to women in the maritime industry. Does that sound familiar?

Enjoy episode 199, and please let me know your views on what we are discussing. Thanks for listening.