In Andriaki Shipping Co. Ltd. we take great pride in the high numbers of women seafarers of various ranks serving on our vessels and of those holding key managerial positions ashore.
We are extremely honored to announce our first female promoted to Tanker Master. Taking this opportunity, we will be presenting a select amount of stories and achievements of the women of Andriaki Shipping Co. Ltd., starting with Cpt. Chrysi Kolokoutsa and aspire that these will act as an inspiration to enhance further developments not only within our organization but within the overall Shipping Industry.
Cpt. Chrysi started her career with Andriaki Shipping Co. Ltd. in 2011 as 2nd Officer onboard M/T Violando. Through her excellent performance and eagerness to learn and develop she became the first female Captain onboard Andriaki’s Fleet of Tankers.
Her inspiration to become a Captain was the Greek poet, writer, and sailor – Nikos Kavvadias who used his travels around the world as powerful metaphors. Cpt. Chrysi wanted to become a seafarer since she first read his poems in her early teens. Her dream was to travel around the world and meet people of different nationalities and cultures. As she stated: “From the age of 15 the only profession that I could ever imagine myself doing was either that of a seafarer or that of a lighthouse keeper. I imagined myself away from the city, with my books & music and surrounded by the sea and serenity.”
Despite the efforts of her teachers in high school to dissuade her, she declared the Merchant School as her first and only choice; by then she knew that becoming a seafarer was the only thing she wanted to do. She was accepted by the Merchant School of Aspropyrgos in 2004.
Given back in 2004 going to sea was not a very common career path for women, Cpt. Chrysi ended up being one of only twelve women out of 2000 students!
As the years passed it became clear that the reality of life at sea was not quite as romantic as Kavvadias’ poems, but she still could never have imagined any other career path.
Throughout the years and as her career progressed, her motivation remained the same “Doing what she had to do in order to pursue her dream”.
In 2022 Cpt. Chrysi was promoted to Master and travelled onboard M/T Nicolaos. Her first trip as Captain was a landmark moment for her; It was a great experience that made her understand the responsibility that a Captain holds, especially while passing through the busy port of Singapore.
What she considers of great importance is for a Captain to be able to rely on her team which is why she strived to be proactive and never left requests from crew members unattended. She firmly believes that people need to feel appreciated to perform at their best.
Cpt. Chrysi feels immensely proud for having made her dream come true. She closed our discussion with her most loved image; that of when she disembarked as a Captain for the first time, looked back at the vessel as she drifted away knowing that she had done a good job and that her team was satisfied.
