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Insights ger-term imperative. So, we’ve got to ? nd our way through there’s also a challenge and we need to be smart and strate- the current labor shortage, but we’ve also got to really work gic as we work to drive the missions down further.

to create a future in which our industry is an employer of

Is the industry doing enough to attract a diverse, choice for a young man or a young woman who comes out skilled workforce?

of high school. They want to work hard. They want to be outdoors. They want to work with their hands. They don’t JC: We’ve got to do more. I don’t think we can ever do want to be behind a desk. They don’t want to live their life enough. People make this industry go, and so casting a on a computer. Our industry has just tremendous oppor- wider net and ensuring that our workplace is inclusive and tunity that we can offer, economic opportunity, advance- welcoming is crucial. And I think it’s also important not ment opportunity, the opportunity to do really meaning- only to our industry, but to our country. We need more ful and relevant work, and we got to make sure that we are U.S. mariners to support our economic and homeland able to ? nd and keep the pipeline of mariners that we need security. So we need to be able to ? nd them, they need to continue to make the industry go. to know our industry exists, and they need to understand

The second big issue that I would highlight, we talked why it matters and what it can do for them in terms of a about it earlier, is surely environment and decarbonization. career in the future. And we need to make sure that we’ve

And as I said before, I think this is a huge opportunity for got a workplace that is welcoming to them and where they our industry. It’s an immediate way for shippers to reduce want to stay, because there’s a lot of opportunity.

the carbon footprint of their supply chain, because we re-

What are AWOs top goals for this year? And ally are a big part of the solution. But, as we discussed, © Drew / MarineTraf? c.com 16 | MN March 2022