Lauren Beagen on Protecting and Empowering Women in the Maritime Industry

As supply chain disruption has maintained a maddening crescendo over the past few years, empowering women in the maritime industry is coming clearly into focus as the need for more strategic leadership grows. From port congestion to worker shortages and labor negotiations to ESG changes, shipping is front-and-center in the ongoing dialogue around logistics. Experts have already highlighted shipping and manufacturing delays as a continuing supply chain challenge over the next year. Amid a global pandemic, geopolitical tensions, and port delays, leaders in supply chain are constantly navigating the latest wave of maritime obstacles. Nearly 80% of worldwide ports are experiencing notably longer turnaround times. In the pre-COVID era, late container ships were only delayed a few days. This year, only about 34% of container vessels made it to their destinations on time, with most of them delayed by over a week. McKinsey states, “Clogged ports, expensive cargo capacity, and emergency shipments became prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the conflict in Ukraine has also contributed to product-line closures, transport delays, and spiraling input costs.” Meanwhile, new challenges are on the horizon, with climate change driving additional issues and government intervention in ESG planning after the latest findings that countries everywhere are falling short on emissions goals and need to get more aggressive in the fight against global warming. In fact, the United Nations has urged governments globally to set new goals and make deeper cuts to counter rising temperatures. The maritime industry has never been more primed to grow a more diverse workforce and leaders. Because while women in leadership have made incredible progress over the last decade, there’s still much work to do in bringing woman leaders into male-dominated workforces like the maritime industry. And according to the research, gender diversity is an important investment. Harvard Business Review found that women in business scored higher than their male counterparts in key leadership areas, including resilience and results-driven attitudes, teamwork, and bold leadership. At Let’s Talk Supply Chain™, we believe every business can identify more intelligent approaches when more women and diverse voices are in the mix. We’re committed to closing the supply-chain gender gap by bringing more visibility around women leaders in the logistics community who are making bold moves and breakout career achievements. Every month our Women In Supply Chain™ blog series brings you the rising female influencers and trailblazers so you can hear from the women who are making waves across the logistics and transportation community. They share their supply-chain origin stories, the obstacles they’ve overcome, and the career advice they have for other women in logistics. This month, we’re proud to feature Lauren Beagen. Lauren is a legal powerhouse who advocates for women in the maritime industry. She is a renowned maritime industry expert known for her work as The Maritime Professorä—developing educational and e-learning resources for supply chain organizations and professionals.   Lauren Beagen went to the Roger Williams University School of Law, where her focus was the Law of the Sea, International Business Transactions, International Law, Admiralty, and the Law and History of Piracy. She also boasts a Master of Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island and a Bachelor’s in Political Science and International Studies from Hope College. Lauren has spent well over a decade advising and educating supply chain professionals and organizations on maritime law and approaches.