“Today, on the International Day of the Seafarer, we pay tribute to the many men and women who man the global shipping fleet –transporting goods around the world to facilitate world trade; and fishing the seas to feed global populations; and in our Navies, protecting our populations, lands and seas; and in the tourist sector, helping people to experience and enjoy our oceans at first hand; and in transport, ferrying passengers between our islands.

We are grateful to you all for the hard work and dedication you show, often spending many days or weeks away from your family and friends and braving all types of weather and seas. Thank you for choosing to become seafarers.

Jamaica is proud to also support the International Maritime Organisation’s gender equality campaign “I Am On Board”.  Our maritime industry boasts females in all spheres of maritime professions, who have made sterling contributions to the development of our industry and continue to drive its success through their commitment, leadership and innovation. We are also very proud that our maritime community includes many female seafarers and cadets.

Jamaica is committed to empowering all women in our maritime community. We actively support the Women in Maritime Association Caribbean, whose mandate is to increase the participation and contribution of women to the maritime industry and provide mentorship and other support to female seafarers. We are very involved in helping to train the next generation of female seafarers at international standards, through the Caribbean Maritime University where women are provided the opportunity to be equipped to pursue seafaring careers.

To support the Day of the Seafarer on June 25, officials from the Maritime Authority of Jamaica will be visiting some of our island’s ports to speak with seafarers in their workplace, listening to any concerns and offering our support. To signal our appreciation of these seafarers’ dedication to their craft, we will be presenting tokens to them.

We congratulate you and want you all to know how much you are valued.”