WISTA Hellas leaders say shipping needs to be more public

Following the Iran War closing the Strait of Hormuz, a group of female shipping executives argues that the shipping industry needs to make its strategic role in transporting fuels and cargoes more public emphasizing its crucial supply chain link.

At the Posidonia 2026 conference that took place in Athens, Women's International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA) Hellas President, Vivi Kolliopoulou, Insurance Manager, Angelicoussis Group, introduced the panel discussion:

“After the outbreak of the (Iran War) conflict … we found ourselves facing a dilemma. Should we host any events at all? There was growing concern for the seafarers at the time, the people trapped … and several of our members working in ship management companies were facing significant challenges in ensuring the safety of the vessels and crews amid the uncertainty. I began to wonder whether, by remaining discreet, our industry was becoming too silent. And it was that question that inspired the title of today's seminar: Is it time for our industry to speak more openly and share its perspective on the issues that affect it? Whether discussing geopolitical issues, conflicts, sustainability, alternative fuels, or the critical role shipping plays in the global economy, should we be doing more to explain our realities and tell our own story?”

WISTA Hellas is a non-profit association, established in Greece in 1993, for women at the management level in the maritime, trade, and logistics sectors, and promotes “diversity and empowerment of women. To achieve these objectives, WISTA Hellas works towards building a strong, inclusive community, addressing the existing gender gap in leadership positions.”

The WISTA Hellas panelists were:

• Wanda Costopoulos - Managing Director, Arkas Logistics
• Katerina Skourtanioti - Managing Director, VENLYS Maritime Specialisation Services
• Georgia Sotirouli - Chief Operating Officer, Minoa Marine Limited
• Panel Moderator was Mark Pearson, Managing Director, Maran Tankers Management

The panelists each discussed their backgrounds and cited the importance of associations such as WISTA that have helped women move into more responsible positions in shipping and logistics.

The women provided their views on issues related to shipping, the pressures created by the Iran War, and why shipping needs to help the public understand the industry’s crucial role in keeping the supply chain functional in good times and in bad.

Critical Supply Chain Role

The WISTA panelists made the following comments:

Wanda Costopoulos, Managing Director, Arkas Logistics: “Shipping is a very, very important industry for the whole world. For financial growth. The first important thing … around 80 or 90% of global trade is covered … Most of our products, raw materials, electronics, food, pharmacy, and fuel are transported by sea. Transportation … is connecting the people all over the world. Because the suppliers and the buyers and the sellers need to be connected … this gives a lot of opportunities and job opportunities to many people, to many sectors, to ports, to logistics areas. Because when we are talking about shipping always included (is) … the whole supply chain… We saw the last five years from the pandemic, which showed how important shipping is in our world with the crisis … because the vessel is delayed … that means that the freight gets higher. So, the consumer has to pay more. And all this created big problems in the supply chain. Shipping, for many years traditionally played a very major role in Greece. And that's why for us and for this country, it's very important.”

Katerina Skourtanioti, Managing Director, VENLYS Maritime Specialisation Services:

“I think it's difficult to understand because the success is invisible. You cannot see the success. We see shipping only when we have a crisis, only when we have incidents, only when we hear now in the incident in the geographic area, everything that happened. But actually, that's why it's very difficult for other people to understand. Because I think this is the importance of shipping. So, as a safety and crisis management professional, I have learned that people … don't buy safety, but they buy products, they buy technical, they buy everything. But what they do is they value the credibility, they value the reliability. So, shipping has to do with credibility, has to do with what delivers with certainty. And when this doesn't happen, then we think differently.”

Georgia Sotirouli, Chief Operating Officer, Minoa Marine Limited:” Well, I also believe that shipping moves the world … shipping is everywhere from every single product we have to use … the diesel in our cars, the food, the clothes, everything. I would say that shipping is not … discreet as it makes some progress compared to previous generations, maybe shipping is complicated for someone to understand … As Katerina said, it takes so much effort from the seafarers on board, in the engine rooms, in the bridge, to the team at the offices, the shore team to have everything safe, reliable, efficient for the delivery of the cargo to its final destination, to the receiver. For me this is about shipping, to have the cargo delivered on time, safely, efficiently to the destination … Of course, when there is a distraction (such as a war), only then can the public understand how important it is. When there is a lack of products in the market, when there is an energy price increase, when there is inflation, it's only then.”

Mark Pearson asked if there are shipping alternatives: “… What's the alternative to shipping? Is there something else that can replace shipping? Alternative to things around the world, you mentioned trucks … trains…”

Wanda Costopoulos responded:” You cannot do without the vessel … I will tell you because … a lot of clients this month asked for another solution. If you do not have a ship … and you’re trying to connect by train or by truck. But … all over the world, sea transportation accounts for 80 to 90% of freight transportation. So, this is very difficult to avoid…”

Georgia Sotirouli agreed: “There are alternatives, but they are costlier ones.”

Wanda Costopoulos added: ”You are right … if I were able to transport by train and then by trucks … but it is too expensive. Or by air… too expensive.”

Mark Pearson noted: “I heard because of the crisis in Hormuz… there was a convoy of trucks, 300 trucks. And they were taking oil from, I think, from Iraq across to … Syria. We did the numbers, and we compared how many tons a truck say maximum of 40 tons, when one ship can transport 150,000 tons.”

Mariners

Part of the lack of visibility is the crucial role that mariners play in keeping the supply chain operational, as Wanda Costopoulos pointed out: “Actually, the sailors are heroes in my opinion. And they were working in a bad condition when nobody was working. In the pandemic, everybody was in the house. So, to bring medicine and to bring masks to everybody now in the world. Many of us are in our houses, and they are trying to bring fuel, and bring energy, and bring products. So, yes, they have to be more recognized. And unfortunately, they are not. They are not even in the media or on social. This is the last thing that we are talking about.”

Mark Pearson noted: “There was a move during COVID to recognize them as key workers. And I don't think they ever got the official statuses as key workers as medical professionals got … And now looking at the Hormuz situation as well, we see …the efforts that these guys do to … bring oil and keep the world in motion.”

Wanda Costopoulos agreed: “Nobody's talking about that. Most of them are talking about financial … Discrepancies and all the problems political and who's going to be rich or not. But nobody is talking about the sailors.”

Social Media

In looking at new initiatives, the industry needs to focus more on social media and educating younger people:

Katerina Skourtanioti:” Okay, about social media, if you said good examples and bad examples, I think social media (in) today's world … information passes extremely fast. So, this is a problem. And we have to have people who are trained about this. Because also social media is two-way communication…”

Wanda Costopoulos: “We have to, of course, … understand the fake or the real news. But I think social media will attract more new generations, who are most of them in social media. So, it's very important through social media to attract the new generation, to tell our story, to tell the story of the crew, to understand what shipping is, to give more information about and to train them in a way through social media.”

Schools

Georgia Sotirouli said the focus needs to be on engaging young people in the importance of shipping: “Apart from social media, I would like to mention two very great initiatives led by two wonderful women, the YES Forum and the Project Connect. And I have examples of how they can attract youth and train the young people for Project Connect. For example, my daughter, who is 12 years old in her class, has adopted a vessel, the tanker MITERA, from the Karaboulis Family. And the kids have mail exchanges with the crew, the master, and they are like shore-based sailors asking questions. What's your job? What do you do at ports? with vessel visits, etc. And they try to put them on a way of thinking about shipping in general …The YES Forum, which deals with students mostly and tries to bridge the gap between universities and companies, which is very important, and I wish we had such an opportunity when we were students some years ago.”