CMA CGM vows to have 1,000 women at sea by end 2030

Marseille-based container shipping line CMA CGM has raised its ambitions and now aims to have 1,000 women at sea by the end of 2030.

This development comes as the company’s newly born program, She Sails, doubled the number of female seafarers within its fleet.

One year after its launch in December 2024, the program, which seeks to significantly increase the number of women on board CMA CGM vessels, has doubled the number of female seafarers.

Throughout its first year, the program has enabled the Group to boost the company’s number of female seafarers from 200 in 2024 to 403 by the end of 2025, an increase of more than 100%.

The She Sails program mobilised a network of 42 ambassadors in 19 countries and created new partnerships with maritime academies.

Three agreements have been signed, one in Abu Dhabi and two in India, while two more are being prepared in the Philippines and Indonesia to strengthen the recruitment of cadets.

This also resulted in 74 promotions this year, including 8 to senior officer positions on board, 48 from cadet to junior officer, and one from deckhand to qualified deckhand, a first for the Group.

Christine Cabau Woehrel, the Group’s executive vice president in charge of operations and assets, said: “In just one year, our program has proven its effectiveness: the results exceed our expectations. More women are accessing key positions, their career paths are accelerating, their confidence is growing, and our teams are gaining in both diversity and performance. These achievements are a source of pride, but above all a responsibility: to continue our efforts, to go further, and to make equal opportunities a lasting reality across all our teams.”