More than 900 maritime professionals celebrated the successes and innovative power of the Dutch maritime sector during the Maritime Awards Gala, an exclusive annual networking event. Five awards were presented at the Gala, which took place on Monday evening 4 November in Rijswijk the Netherlands.
The five awards were the Maritime RNLN Van Hengel-Spengler Award 2019 (winner Kelly Villena), Maritime Designer Award 2019 (winner Niels de Vries), Maritime Innovation Award 2019 (winner Conoship International), Maritime KVNR Shipping Award 2019 (winner Dutch political parties CDA and VVD) and Maritime Award: KNVTS Ship of the Year 2019 (winner Sendo Liner). All winners are discussed in detail in separate news items on our website, all published this morning.
The evening’s host was Dutch TV presenter Patrick Lodiers. Other speeches were given by the gala’s director Jennifer van der Schaaf, president of the Maritime Awards Foundation Henk Volmerink, and special guest the Mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb.
In his speech, Aboutaleb emphasised the need for collaboration: ‘Innovation as the driving force behind global maritime developments, but that does include cooperation and sharing!’ He also says, he sees sustainability as ‘the new economy’.
Rob Verkerk, a retired officer of the Netherlands Marine Corps, also came on stage to launch the new “Maritime by…” campaign. This campaign is to change the maritime industry’s image by telling more about different career opportunities in hope of drawing more people to the industry.
Van der Schaaf and Lodiers also held short interviews with special guests in the room: Hendrik-Jan Groeneveld of Mercy Ships and sailors Simeon Tienpont and Marcelien Bos-De Koning.
Below you can find a photo report of the evening (all pictures by SWZ|Maritime/G.J. de Boer) as well as video from the whole evening.
Maritime Week
The Maritime Awards Gala is the highlight of this year’s Maritime Week, which takes place from 2 to 9 November. The Maritime Week is all about sharing knowledge and experiencing the training and career opportunities that the sector has to offer.
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https://www.facebook.com/MaritimeAwardsGala/videos/2494452487305711/
