The British Ports Association is calling on the ports industry to enter the inaugural Maritime UK Awards.
A brand-new, national awards programme celebrating the breadth of the UK’s £37.4bn maritime sector is set to be launched today (April 26) by Maritime UK.
The British Ports Association is calling on the ports industry to enter the inaugural Maritime UK Awards.
A brand-new, national awards programme celebrating the breadth of the UK’s £37.4bn maritime sector is set to be launched today (April 26) by Maritime UK.
The Maritime UK Awards will be the first truly national maritime awards in the UK, organised by industry, for the benefit of industry. They will be open to companies from across the whole maritime sector, embracing the shipping, ports, services, engineering, and leisure marine industries.
In a unique twist, the awards evenings will be held in a different UK maritime region each year. The first awards ceremony will take place in the Solent, where the maritime sector represents a significant 20 per cent of the economy, supports 120,000 jobs and facilitates trade worth £77.5bn.
British Ports Association Chief Executive, Richard Ballantyne said:
“We welcome the Maritime UK Awards as a new way of recognising and rewarding achievements in the maritime sector. They will also promote the value of the industry more widely and we are keen ports are well represented. This is an excellent opportunity for UK port operators to highlight what they have been doing in terms of diversity, sustainability and innovation and we are activity encouraging them to participate in the initiative.”
Harry Theochari, Maritime UK Chair, said:
“We are excited about this inaugural event that will not only shine a spotlight on the most exciting and dynamic activity across our sector, but will also champion each of our great maritime regions by rotating each year.
We are delighted to hold the inaugural awards in Southampton during the city’s international boat show, Britain’s biggest festival of boating.”
The Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), who are the key partnership body behind developing a Solent Maritime cluster with Maritime UK, is organising the event on 19 September 2019.
The awards, set to be launched today at Maritime UK’s National Council meeting in London, are open to businesses and organisations of all sizes. The categories mirror themes in the Government’s recently-published strategy for the sector, Maritime 2050. They are:
• Diversity Award
• Innovation Award
• Science, Technology, Engineering & MathematicsAward
• Sustainability Award
• Coastal Powerhouse Award
• International Trade Award
• Employer of the Year Award
• Start-up of the Year Award
• The David Dingle Award for Collaboration
• Rising Star Award
• Business of the Year Award
• 2050 Award
The Maritime UK Awards will be judged by a panel of internationally recognised maritime leaders, including Carole Cran, of Forth Ports and Nicky Goldsborough, of Shoreham Port from the ports industry.
For information on each industry’s judges:
Shipping (2)
• Tom Strang – Senior Vice President, Maritime Affairs, Carnival Corporation & plc
• Gemma Griffin – Vice President HR & Crewing, DFDS
Ports (2)
• Carole Cran – Chief Financial Officer, Forth Ports
• Nicky Goldsborough – Director of Corporate Services, Shoreham Port
Engineering (2)
• Russell Gould – Chief Executive, Kelvin Hughes
• Sarah Kenny – Chief Executive, BMT
Services (2)
• Britt Pickering – Head of Legal and Claims, Shipowners P&I
• Charlotte Kirk – Commercial director, ITIC
Leisure Marine (2)
• TBC
• TBC
Others (3)
• Susanna May – Co-Director, Department for Transport
• Iain Percy – CEO, Artemis Technologies
• Iain Lower – Head of Naval Staff, Royal Navy
• Kevin George – Chairman, Red Funnel Group
To find out about the awards, which take place at the Leonardo Royal Hotel Southampton Grand Harbour, and how to enter, visit www.maritimeuk.org/awards.