(With extra pictures) Last night 2 November, the Maritime Awards Gala celebrated its tenth anniversary. In the presence of some 850 maritime professionals, five maritime awards were presented.

Whereas different crises prevented her from being present in the past, for the first time, the Minister of Infrastructure and the Environment Melanie Schultz van Haegen was able to attend the gala, which took place at the RDM Submarine Hall ("Onderzeebootloods") in Rotterdam.

In her speech as keynote speaker, she commemorated the maritime industry's importance to the Dutch economy, its strong drive to innovate and named a few initiatives the government is working on to support the industry, such as making it more attractive to register a ship in the Dutch shipping register.

Festive Gathering

Once again, the Maritime Awards Gala proved a festive gathering with music (from classic to drums), entertainment (the "Flight of Passion" performed by Nadya Iluina und Dmitriy Grygorov and lots of time to meet and greet. The Gala was also the kick-off for this year's Maritime Week, with maritime activities all week long, such as maritime trade fair Europort (in Ahoy Rotterdam) and several companies will open their doors to the public, all meant to place the maritime industry in the spotlights.

The five awards presented were:

Picture: Minister Schultz was the keynote speaker at the tenth edition of the Maritime Awards Gala.

Below a photo album of the event. Please click the pop-out link to view the pictures in their proper dimensions. All pictures by SWZ Maritime/Gerrit J. de Boer.