(WESTON, Conn.) — In response to last week’s repeated calls for industry collaboration at SHIPPINGInsight Fleet Optimization and Innovation Conference and Exhibition , its chief evolution officer, Carleen Lyden Walker, announced the formation of the Global Maritime Information Coalition (GMIC) designed to address the lack of unified messaging to the public about the maritime industry.
“The recent crew change crisis has illuminated the maritime’s low awareness in the public’s consciousness,” said Walker. “Despite the importance of the maritime industry to global society, seafarers were not deemed ‘essential workers’ alongside firemen, policemen, medical personnel, and other worthy groups. Much of this is due to the lack of understanding how dependent the world’s community is on shipping, providing it with food, energy, medical supplies and more.”
“Since its inception, the maritime industry has been in the forefront of globalization as the literal ‘engine of global trade’, carrying more than 90 percent of the world’s goods and energy,” said Walker. “Because of its siloed roots, however, this essential service remains nearly invisible to the public. The Global Maritime Information Coalition intends to be a global resource to benefit the industry and communicate its value proposition to the public.”
While this lack of awareness has been identified for decades, there has been little achieved to overcome it. “Individual groups have attempted to reach the public, but there has been no global, unified organization chartered to create awareness of the maritime sector and deliver key messages to the public about its role and importance,” said Walker. “Leveraging today’s communication tools along with a unification of the global maritime community, the Global Maritime Information Coalition will enable our industry to increase our visibility, communicate our value proposition, improve the public’s perception of our activities, and deliver targeted messages to global society.”
The objective of the GMIC is to develop a unified platform for the global maritime community to raise the awareness of the global maritime industry and its value among the public, improve society’s image of the sector, provide unified messaging about the industry, be a resource for governments to learn about the industry, act as a portal for groups to communicate with the maritime industry, inform students and the public about career opportunities available in the industry.
The next steps in the formation of the coalition is to recruit global, national and regional industry organizations, government agencies, corporations and NGOs to join the GMIC and establish a work program for the organization. It is anticipated there will be four major areas of engagement: value proposition of the industry, its commitment to decreasing maritime’s environmental impact, industry’s technological advances, and maritime as a career opportunity.
For more information, contact Walker at c.walker@shippinginsight.com.
– SHIPPINGInsight
