Every year, the Maritime Awards Gala provides the setting for five prestigious maritime awards: the Royal Netherlands Navy's Van Hengel Spengler Award, the Maritime Innovation Award, the KVNR Shipping Award, the Maritime Designer Award and the KNVTS Ship of the Year Award.
The nominees for all five awards have now been announced. The tenth edition of the Maritime Awards Gala takes place 2 November at the RDM in Rotterdam.
Royal Netherlands Navy Van Hengel-Spengler Award
This award is presented to the best operational innovation, designed by students up to 35 years of age. The winning research has to be able to lead to new insights, concepts or innovations, that contribute to improving the operational deployment of naval units. The nominees are:
- Ms.ir. Sietske Hendriks – research into the applicability of Fredyn in the design of a frigate with axe bow and skegs.
- LTZ3 (TD) Kevin) Stouten – research into the behaviour of glued steel inserts in a composite pressure body.
- Mr.ir. Ruben Zandstra – research into generating a large set of different designs by modelling a mine countermeasures vessel with 2.5D functional building blocks.
Maritime Innovation Award
This award is meant to showcase the innovative strength of maritime and offshore suppliers as well as stimulate innovations within the maritime cluster. The nominees are:
- Huisman – the Hybrid Boom Crane
- Hull Vane – the Hull Vane
- VAF Instruments – the TT-Sense; Shart Power Torque & Trust Meter
KVNR Shipping Award
The KVNR Shipping Award focuses on the improvement or innovation of company management. This can be in the area of human resources, environmental performance, fleet management or other innovative practices. Nominated are:
- Anthony Veder – the Retrofit of the Coral Anthelia
- Flinter – Cable Recovery with the CRS Rebecca
- Kotug – the hybrid rotortugs in the ART80-32 series
- Wind BV – Subsea Cable Recovery
Maritime Designer Award
This award, formerly the Wim Timmers Designer Award, is for young maritime designers using an innovative approach. Subjects can be an original design method for a particular ship type or for ship systems. This year's nominees are:
- Tuur Killaars – design method that provides insight into the consequences of changes during the design process
- Victor Verhulst – design of an underwater lounge for a yacht
KNVTS Ship of the Year Award
Every year, this award is presented to a (mostly) Dutch built/designed ship, which is judged on the criteria design, economy, sustainability, safety and building process. The nominees are:
- Yacht Equanimity – built by Oceanco
- Fast Supply Intervention Vessel Karina – designed and built by Shipyard De Hoop Lobith-Tolkamer
- Offshore Maintenance Support Vessel Kroonborg – designed and built by Royal Niestern Sander for Royal Wagenborg
Maritime Week
The Maritime Awards Gala is also the official start of the fifth edition of the Maritime Week. During this week, the innovative character, healthy commercialism and focus on sustainability of the maritime industry are placed in the spotlights. The Maritime Week takes place from 2 to 7 November.
Picture: The Maritime Awards winners 2014 (by SWZM/G.J. de Boer).
