Over the years, contacts from overseas were invited to join the meeting and the group gradually expanded throughout Europe to include women from other areas of shipping. Within a relatively short period of time 25 women were involved, and it was decided that an Association should be formed. WISTA (Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association) was born and was based in the United Kingdom.

The annual meetings were extended into a Conference Programme in 1981, when the first WISTA Conference was held in Hamburg, Germany.

In the early nineties, the members voted to create “WISTA International” as the umbrella organization for the newly formed WISTA countries.

Nowadays, WISTA, a non-profit organization for women involved in the shipping industry, numbers more than 1200 individual members from 28 member-countries, women in management level positions in the shipping sector.

WISTA Hellas, established in 1993 and currently numbering some 200 members, will proudly host the 30th International Annual WISTA Conference. It is the third time that WISTA Hellas will host the International Conference, as in 1990 and 1996 it was also held in Greece.

The Conference serves the basic goals of the organization which aim at promoting the continuing education, networking opportunities and the exchange of information and contacts among WISTA members and the larger shipping community.

Join us and become a part of the WISTA history!