TO celebrate women's professional involvement in the shipping and maritime industry, WISTA-UK event at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has awarded honours to an International Personality of the Year, Entrepreneur of 2015 and the "Came by SHIP" competition winner.
WISTA-UK is part of the Women's International Shipping & Trading Association, an international organisation for women in management positions involved in the business and related trades worldwide. WISTA has 2,100 members from 35 different countries.
One of the speakers of the evening was former secretary-general of IMO, William O'Neil, who praised WISTA's great effort to try to "improve the younger generations knowledge of shipping activities."
Despite being a male dominated industry, women are gradually staking their claim and empowering others to get involved in shipping and that is what WISTA-UK strives to encourage with the Personality of the Year and Entrepreneurship awards.
The annual WISTA Personality of the Year was awarded to Liverpool Cruise Terminal's manager, Angie Redhead, who has helped to restore the city's prestigious position on the international cruise map and will continue to be a strong advocate for the passenger destination.
She regards the terminal as the "lifeblood of the river" and it is set to undergo a GBP4 billion (US$5.96 billion) expansion project.
Owner and business director of Guardian Maritime Ltd, Teresa Stevens, was presented with the WISTA-UK Entrepreneur of 2015 award for her groundbreaking work inventing and developing vessel protection systems.
Ms Stevens said: "Shipping is below the radar in the UK and I think that women need to rally together and encourage one another to build up their network of contacts. Without the encouragement and support of WISTA-UK I probably wouldn't be here accepting this award."
In 2014, to commemorate the 40th year anniversary of WISTA-UK, the Came by SHIP campaign was introduced in order to help promote the importance of shipping in our lives.
In conjunction with Seavision and Jeanius Consulting, and supported by the UK Chamber of Shipping, the Came by SHIP national essay competition was launched to encourage schools, cadets and youth groups to focus on the significance of the industry and consider shipping and seafaring as a future career.
Ten-year-old Ruby Smith from Sanford Primary School won the under 12 category with an impressive and factually descriptive piece about containerships.
Sixteen-year-old Lydia Pallot from Peter Symonds College in Winchester won the 12-18 year old category with a piece about the industry's role in fuelling the economy.
From left to right: Angie Redhead, Cruise and Operations Manager of Liverpool Cruise Terminal, Sue Terpilowski OBE, Managing Director of Image Line Communications and Acting President of WISTA-UK, and Teresa Stevens, Owner and Business Director of Guardian Maritime Limited