World Maritime Day takes place annually and is organised and delivered by the United Nations specialised agency, and is responsible for shipping safety, maritime security and the marine environment, globally. For 37 years, the IMO have continued to celebrate World Maritime Day during the last week in September, emphasising and promoting the great work that they do all over the world.

This year, their theme was ‘Maritime education and training’, with a focus on raising awareness of the maritime industry to children and young students. Currently, ships carry more than 90% of world trade, and despite maritime professionals providing a vital service to an industry which significantly contributes to sustainable development and global prosperity, young people seem reluctant to choose a degree in this industry. With this in mind, the International Maritime Organization ran two separate open mornings on 22nd and 23rd September, for both primary and secondary schools, to sufficiently inform them about the career opportunities that there are in the field.

Throughout the day, In conjunction with two British charitable foundations, Careers At Sea and Sea Vision, primary school children were exposed to the numerous careers that are available at sea, as well as the types of study you can undertake to push a career forward in this area. The secondary school event was backed by representatives from Plymouth and Southampton Universities, the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology. During this open morning, young professionals gave talks on their own experiences within the industry and were there to answer any important questions that the students had on the types of jobs that are available, such as engineering, naval architecture, nautical science, transport, maritime environment and biology; as well as ship brokering.

During the 2015 World Maritime Day open morning for primary schools that took place at the International Maritime Organization headquarters in London, our delightful video was shown to engaged students who were excited and eager to learn about the maritime industry.

Trustee of the High Tide Foundation, Mark Easby, was elated to receive a letter of thanks from none other than Koji Sekimizu, Secretary General of the global organisation. In the letter, which you can read below, he expressed his gratitude to the High Tide Foundation and our involvement in the day.

Mark Easby, Managing Director of Middlesbrough based branding agency, Better, said, “We were absolutely overjoyed to be contacted by the International Maritime Organization, and were more than happy to allow them to use one of our videos from the High Tide website.

“Not only has it gained us a higher profile at national and global level, but it has also helped us to further showcase the work that we do for young people looking to pursue careers in our region, by raising aspirations and demonstrating the opportunities that there are within the industry.”

Check out this video shared by the IMO which shows students being asked what they’d learnt throughout the day. Some interesting answers!

We want to extend our thanks to the International Maritime Organization and all involved for using our video as part of World Maritime Day. We were glad to contribute where we could to help build awareness and show the importance and value of jobs within this field.

If you’d like to know more about the work that we do within our region and the support that we give to schools, colleges and young people through our amazing schemes and programmes, then please do browse our site. You can also contact us on info@hightidefoundation.co.uk to chat about how we can work together.