The judges also commented on the extremely high standard of all the short-listed entrants for the technical awards, which included another nine companies drawn from Germany, Finland, France, Hong Kong and Singapore plus above-mentioned countries.
The Seatrade Lifetime Achievement Award went to Li Shaode, chairman China Shipping Group - which struck a highly topical note given the confirmation earlier that same week of the group’s order for the world’s largest containerships of 18,400teu. Li summed up his reaction to the Award by three words: “appreciation” of the honour, “realisation” of the need for groups like his to co-operate with others in the industry to find innovative solutions to shipping’s current economic problems, and the ‘inspiration’ that he would take away from the night to continue sharing his experience with others.
Dr Martin Stopford, president of Clarkson Research Services, was roundly applauded for winning the Seatrade 25th Anniversary Personality Award: Shipping Intelligence. He referred to shipping’s “amazing” growth over the past 40 years, more than tripling the level of global seaborne trade to nearly 10bn ‘tonnes a year.
AP Møller – Maersk won the IMO-Themed Award for World Maritime Day: “Sustainable Development: IMO’s Contribution Beyond Rio+20.” Receiving the award, Maersk Line ‘s Jacob Sterling, head of environment and CSR, said, “Sustainability is becoming an integral part of the way we do shipping and how we have to do shipping in order to be successful.”
The Seatrade Global Performer Award went to Bahri of Saudi Arabia, for its landmark achievement in merging National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia and former Saudi Aramco subsidiary Vela to form the world’s third-largest VLCC fleet, as well as expansion on the chemicals, general cargo and dry bulk fronts.
The award for Countering Piracy went to the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs, HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nayan, in recognition of his country’s generous donations to both Somalia and the UN Counter Piracy Trust Fund, as well as its hosting of high-level international conferences on the subject.
Seatrade Young Person in Shipping Award went to Dr Priyath Wickrama, chairman of Sri Lanka Ports Authority, for his work in developing Sri Lankan ports, especially for arrival of Maersk’s Triple-E vessels later this year.
Technical Award winners selected by the independent panel of judges chaired by IMO secretary-general Kojo Sekimizu were as follows:
• Class NK won the Safety at Sea category for its ‘Guidelines for the Safe Carriage of Nickel Ore’ – a very important development given the number of lost seafarers lives attributed to the liquefaction of nickel ore cargoes into unstable slurry in recent years.
• Lankhorst Ropes won Innovation in Ship Operations for Tipto Winchline, designed to reduce the threat of mooring line snap-back to crew safety.
• W R Systems Limited won the Clean Shipping category, for its Emsys emissions monitoring technology.
• The Maritime Skills Alliance (MSA) secured the Investment in People award for developing its suite of maritime apprenticeships in the UK.
A Seatrade Special Award 2013, to mark the event’s 25th anniversary, went to the chairman of Posidonia Exhibitions and Seatrade founder Themis Vokos, for his pioneering work in the field of maritime communications. That achievement, from 1970 onwards, included bringing professional maritime reporting and conferences designed to foster international shipping dialogue to areas of the world that had never experienced them before, as well as hosting the world-renowned Posidonia event.
In his closing remarks, Seatrade chairman Chris Hayman expressed his hope that areas such as Africa and Latin America would have a greater involvement in the Awards scheme in the future.
Guest of Honour Koji Sekimizu rounded out the evening - which had been compered by BBC’s “Hard Talk” presenter Stephen Sackur - by thanking Seatrade for its 25-year stewardship of an event that was both “enjoyable yet worthwhile”.
To view gallery of award winners pictures click here
A video celebrating 25 years of the Seatrade Awards can be viewed here.
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