News: New national maritime careers campaign launched by Maritime UK

• Campaign receives funding from Department for Transport
• Careers hub held during London International Shipping Week
• Prime Minister shows support aboard NLV PHAROS

Maritime UK has launched a new national Maritime Careers campaign to promote career opportunities across Britain’s £46.1bn maritime sector.

The nationwide campaign is being launched in response to recommendations within the government’s Maritime 2050 strategy, launched in January and crafted with industry.

The campaign is designed to promote career opportunities across breadth of the maritime sector (the shipping, ports, engineering, services and leisure industries) around the country, building upon the work initiated by the Maritime UK Careers Promotion Forum; a grouping of industry bodies that seeks to promote careers for each of the maritime industries.

Now, the campaign is being launched to provide better coordination of careers promotion across the sector, championing the idea that there is ‘no wrong door’ in maritime, stressing the ability for people to move to different parts of the sector throughout their careers.

The campaign launched with a Careers Hub aboard the NLV PHAROS on 12 September during London International Shipping Week, organised by Maritime UK.

Primary and secondary school children boarded the ship to learn about careers across the maritime sector. The group included 6- and 7-years pupils from Gomer Junior School and Bay House School in Gosport. As well as finding out about all the potential careers in Britain’s maritime sector, the children had a chance to speak to the Prime Minister and Defence Secretary – who were there to announce a £1.25bn deal to build five new Royal Navy frigates.

Children had the opportunity to visit stands hosted by British Marine, IMarEST, Royal HaskoningDHV, SUBS in Schools, British Ports Association, Careers at Sea, the 1851 Trust and Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers.

Georgina Mulhall, executive head teacher at Gomer Junior School – which is part of the Gosport and Fareham Multi-Academy Trust with Bay House – said the event provided a “fantastic insight” into the industry.

The Maritime Careers campaign will be supported by an initial £250,000 from the Department for Transport.

Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani said:

“I am immensely proud of the vibrant range of jobs offered by the maritime industry, and I know that the 186,000 people who work in the sector will agree that it is a truly fantastic place to build a career.

“We need to ensure this fantastic industry is fuelled with the brightest talent from across the country, and that means tapping into the potential of our diverse society and increasing the number of women working in maritime.

“In doing this we will boost British standing in maritime globally, allowing us to successfully lead the charge to a bright new future for the UK.

As well as promoting maritime careers generally, there will be a specific focus on attracting girls and young women into the sector. A key component of the campaign, the ‘Maritime and Me’ project will use a public campaign to show girls of all ages the fantastic range of opportunities in maritime – from jobs at sea to engineers on the shore and beyond.

The project will work with WISE, a community interest organisation, to create an online quiz where girls and young women can see which roles would suit their personalities, supported by case studies of women working across different sectors, including maritime.

Minister for Women, Victoria Atkins, said:

“Girls usually outperform boys in STEM subjects at GCSE. Yet, compared with boys, almost half the number of girls feel a STEM subject is their strongest. This means industry is missing out on top talent.

Our women of the future need role models. This fantastic project, which pairs girls with inspiring women from the maritime industry, will show them how pursuing careers in these areas can lead them to great things.

Speaking at the Maritime UK Careers Hub aboard the NLV PHAROS, Sarah Kenny, Vice Chair of Maritime UK said:

“It’s been fantastic to see so many people hearing first-hand what a rewarding career maritime can offer during London International Shipping Week.

“With the sector globally forecast to double in size, there really is a job for everyone – and with typical pay significantly above the national average, our people are well rewarded.

“We warmly welcome government’s funding to support careers in maritime, and we’re excited to take this new campaign to the next level.

Those who want to get involved with the campaign or align existing activity are urged to contact Maritime UK.

Further details on the new campaign.

• Maritime UK will grow its secretariat to include a dedicated Careers Promotion and Outreach Manager, engaging the Careers Promotion Forum (CPF) to support the campaign. The Careers Promotion and Outreach Manager will be responsible for developing the campaign’s targets, objectives and plans.
• The Maritime UK Careers Promotion Forum will work with its members and other organisations wanting to join to support the campaign.
• Reflecting the growing role of regional cluster organisations, each Maritime UK geographical cluster will deliver a series of careers events, to be visible through a single sector-wide calendar. Members of the CPF will support activity across the country where able to, including through the regional branches of each national body.
• Each regional cluster will also develop a local engagement plan for schools, colleges and youth groups.
• The campaign is working closely with the team behind the Year of Engineering campaign to share best practice and replicate its successes.
• New print and digital resources will be produced and campaign-branded.
• Members of the CPF who undertake “outreach” functions to schools and other groups with ambassador programmes will also be better coordinated. They will be supported to tell the ‘whole sector-wide’ story during these outreach missions, helping promote the idea of ‘no wrong door’ within the sector.