Seafaring occupations have traditionally been considered as "masculine", but there is a trend of increasing involvement of women. Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA) is working for equality for female professionals in the maritime and related industries. The newly elected President of WISTA International Ms. Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou, the ex-President Karin Orsel and the President of WISTA Russia Olga Lazovskaya told in an interview with IAA PortNews about achievements in this direction, about new technologies and innovations in the shipping industry and environmental issues.

It appears, further development of Russian port infrastructure will get no significant budget allocations. Amid the budget deficit, investors are proposed to look for funding sources other than the public purse. Several schemes are suggested: from concessions and “anchor zones” to investment duty.

Igor Ivashin, head of Sea and River Transport Department at STLC JSC, Russia’s largest leasing company, tells IAA PortNews about leasing and about the prospects of establishing a ship leasing company under the auspices of RF Transport Ministry.

Leonid Shurukhin, Project Manager at Aquatic JSC, leading company in hydraulic engineering and designing for rivers, tells Hydrotechnika journal (Media Group PortNews) about the company’s activities.

New Customs Code of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) was expected to come into effect in July but with the delay in the development of required regulatory documents the deadline was postponed till January 1, 2018. Russian participants of foreign economic activities are concerned about two issues: will the Customs Code come into force since the Law on customs regulation has not been passed in Russia yet and what is going to change from January 1?

Ever rising demands for accuracy and reliability of sea and river vessels positioning as well as some special tasks requiring solutions of especially high reliability amid extreme shipping conditions determine the need for using advanced navigation systems.

Considerable growth of cargo shipping in the Arctic has been driven this year by the Northern Sea Route, where new routes for the export of Russian hydrocarbons begin. Large foreign ship owners also use the lanes of the Northern Sea Route. That was the topic of IAA PortNews interview with Sergey Kukushkin, Acting Head of the NSR Administration.

Russian ports of the Caspian Basin have been long suffering from the falling freight turnover. Lifting of sanctions on Iran, debottlenecking of Russian IWW and revival of cruise shipbuilding bring hope for busier domestic ports in the Caspian Sea. Recently approved strategy for their development foresees the construction of a new deepwater port in Caspijsk.

The system of training and certification of seafarers in Russia has been brought into compliance with the international requirements. Major efforts of the Transport Ministry and other ad hoc agencies have lead up to that. In his interview with IAA PortNews, Vitaly Klyuyev, Director of RF Transport Ministry's Department of State Policy for Maritime and River Transport, tells about training of shipboard personnel and about changes in the system of industry-specific education.

Surely you have heard about blockchain and have a general idea of what it is. Perhaps, you know less about using blockchain in logistics and would like to know more. This technology will let operators of marine container lines save about $38 bln annually.