Women driving logistics in Latin America

Mary Sosa and Fabiana Almeida are pioneering women in logistics, breaking barriers as crane operators in the Dominican Republic and Brazil.

We have made great strides towards fulfilling our goals to encourage more women to join our industry and some women are paving the way for a better future. At our facility in Caucedo, Dominican Republic, we have women working on roles previously unimagined for them to be in. 

Mary Sosa is the first woman RTG (rubber-tired gantry) crane operator in the country. Her rise is both a success in helping create greater awareness about the value of our industry as a desirable one to enter, and how we can use cutting edge technologies to change what’s possible.

Prior to becoming an RTG operator, Mary worked as an internal transfer vehicle (ITV) operator at the terminal, where she quickly distinguished herself with her go-getter attitude and excellent work record. When the opportunity arose, she was a natural choice to undergo training to be an RTG operator using our state-of-the-art mobile and RTG crane simulator we developed and use in the Dominican Republic to help enhance our people’s skills. After a five-month training period in the simulator, she received her certification.

Meanwhile, Fabiana do Nascimento Almeida has successfully become the first female quay crane operator at our port in Santos, Brazil. Fabiana has been a trailblazer throughout her career- when she joined the Port of Santos in 2021, she became the first female RTG operator. Since then, she has always been a role model for both- men and women working at the port. Her latest first is particularly noteworthy as quay cranes are the largest of all port handling equipment, and only a select set of people manage to make the cut to operate one.

Their roles are also critical to the operations of their respective facilities. As RTG operators, Mary and Fabiana play the key role of transferring containers from ship to shore and stacking them in the container yard. This also means she has to check the containers’ integrity, ensure all port safety standards and protocols are adhered to before, during, and after transfers, and finally check the cranes for operational readiness. Both Mary and Fabiana have expressed a great deal of pride in their achievements and are hoping that their success will encourage more women to enter the logistics sector. For our part, we will continue to push boundaries and work towards creating a truly diverse and inclusive workforce.

As the leading logistics solutions and services provider, we naturally have a responsibility to the communities we operate in by creating economic opportunities and social mobility, especially for women.

And we can now proudly say that the groundwork we have been laying in Latin America is beginning to produce results.