Winners of the 2015 International Seafarers' Welfare Awards Announced!

Written by  Caitlin Vaughan 09 June 2015

The winners of the 2015 International Seafarers' Welfare Awards were announced on Tuesday 9th June during a high profile ceremony hosted by Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization, Mr Koji Sekimizu at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in London.

The winners are:

• Judges' Special Award : Rev'd Ken Peters, Mission to Seafarers Director of Justice and Public Affairs

• Judges' Posthumous Award: Mr Paul Karras, founder of Hunterlink Recovery Services

• Shipping Company of the Year: Eidesvik

• Port of the Year: Port of Halifax, Canada

• Seafarer Centre of the Year: Seafarers' Centre Bremerhaven, Germany

• Dr Dierk Lindemann Welfare Personality of the Year Award (organisation): National Union of Seafarers of India

• Dr Dierk Lindemann Welfare Personality of the Year Award (individual): Chirag Bahri (MPHRP)

The Welfare Personality of the Year Award is named after Dr Dierk Lindemann who sadly passed away on 17 March 2014. Dr Lindemann served as the Shipowner's Group spokesperson at the ILO and took a lead role in getting the Maritime Labour Convention adopted.

Welcoming participants at the award ceremony, IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu, said the awards "are an excellent initiative to recognize excellence in the provision of welfare facilities and services for seafarers all over the world. I hope these awards will raise the profile of seafarers' welfare and encourage others to examine and improve their performance".

Commenting on the evening Roger Harris, ISWAN Executive Director, said: "The awards recognise excellent achievement and they inspire others to do more for the welfare of seafarers. We are particularly pleased that the awards are being held here at the IMO".

This year's judges were Fr Bruno Ciceri, Chairman of the International Christian Maritime Association, Mr Steve Cotton, General Secretary of the International Transport Workers' Federation, Ms Rose George author of the award winning 'Deep Sea and Foreign Going: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry that Brings You 90% of Everything', and Mr Masamichi Morooka President of the International Chamber of Shipping.

The awards are generously funded by a grant from the ITF Seafarers' Trust. This year's sponsors are Inmarsat (headline), Garrets (Shipping Company of the Year), Wrist Ship Supply (Seafarer Centre of the Year) and ICS (Dr Dierk Lindemann Welfare Personality of the Year - organisation and individual). Crewtoo is the media sponsor of the awards. The awards are also supported and endorsed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and the International Christian Maritime Association (ICMA).