World Maritime Day: The importance of Human Capital

IMO World Maritime Day Since Covid-19 has started disrupting our lives in early 2020, it was clear that the maritime sector needed to remain active, despite the clear health risks for the workers involved. Millions of men and women made sure that the logistic chains remain functioning, while the citizens were forced to stay at home. IMO has rightly decided to dedicate the 2021 edition of the World Maritime Day to seafarers that played a key role in this global crisis overcoming major challenges so that we could continue our lives in lockdown, and supermarkets, pharmacies and online shops remain open and well supplied. Port cities have gotten even more attention over the past two years for their position as nodes of the global commerce networks, relying on the shoulders of all kinds of port workers. When AIVP did a special series of interviews during the spring and early summer of 2020 with several port city leaders, there were two common elements, an enormous sense of gratitude and recognition to these workers and an extraordinary effort to make sure that the social connection remained strong, either with special aid campaigns or cultural initiatives for those under curfew, particularly for younger generations. The human capital of port cities is at the base of the resiliency capacity demonstrated over that past two years. The difficulties showcased even…