With another round of strong and closely matched entries, Monday 3 November promises to be an evening full of pride, excitement and inspiration. During the Maritime Awards Gala at Ahoy Rotterdam, the maritime sector – together with politicians, press and nominees – will celebrate the power of innovation. These are the contenders for 2025.

This Ship of the Year Award is broad recognition of Dutch shipyards for their maritime innovation in operational vessels. Yesterday, the KNVTS already revealed the nominees of the Ship of the Year Award. We published this news post on this, which describes the nominees in detail. In short, this year’s nominees are:

  • Royal Van Lent has launched the Breakthrough, the first-ever twin azipod hybrid diesel/hydrogen-electric superyacht with over 3 MWh of fuel cell power and onboard liquid hydrogen storage. MY Breakthrough is the largest Dutch-built superyacht by volume to date, with a gross tonnage of 7300 GT, an overall length (LOA) of 119 metres, and a beam of 19 metres. The yacht also features a glass Nemo lounge in the keel, twelve hull doors, fourteen sliding balconies with adjustable floors, and much more.
  • CSS Den Helder is a complex and innovative support vessel built by Damen Naval. The Den Helder plays a vital role in providing continuous support and replenishment capabilities to both the Royal Netherlands Navy and its NATO partners. The vessel is globally deployable to supply naval ships at sea with fuel, ammunition, water, food and spare parts. It can also be used for delivering emergency aid and transporting cargo. The ship is equipped with a Role 2 medical facility and has the capacity to carry a helicopter. Measuring almost 180 metres in length, it operates with a remarkably small crew of just 76, and can accommodate an additional eighty people on board.
  • The Wim Wolff was built by Royal T Shipyards on behalf of the Dutch Research Council (NWO), based in Utrecht, for the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), located on Texel. With the Wim Wolff, NIOZ now operates a comfortable, innovative, and significantly greener vessel, ready for the future. The ship was constructed according to the latest standards and designed to be as sustainable as possible – both in its construction and in daily operation. Importantly, it also offers greater comfort and user-friendliness for both the crew and the visiting scientists on board.

Also read: Gorinchem XII declared Ship of the Year 2024

Maritime Talent Award

The Maritime Talent Award recognises an individual for their research work or development achievement. This year’s nominees are:

  • Edwin de Hoog has taken a deeper dive into the influence of dynamics on the stability of the transport process of sand-water mixtures in dredging pipelines. Through experimental research and the development of new computer simulations, new insights and methods have emerged to further optimise the transport process.
  • As part of his graduation project at TU Delft, in collaboration with Damen Naval, Tom Wien explored the potential of nuclear propulsion for naval vessels. His research shows that a high-temperature gas reactor, combined with a supercritical CO2 cycle, is well-suited to meet the variable power demands of a naval ship.
  • Marije Deul is nominated for her vision and concrete actions towards high-quality and practical reuse of ship structures. Her approach retains steel — a strategic material — within the Netherlands and embraces circularity as an opportunity for a future-proof shipbuilding industry.

Also read: Fanny Rebiffe bags Maritime Talent Award with AI Sail

Maritime Innovation Award

The Maritime Innovation Award is presented to the most notable maritime innovation of the past year. This year’s nominees are:

  • Marine Service Noord has installed the world’s first ammonia fuel supply system on an offshore support vessel (OSV). It was designed and built according to the risk-based design process and received class notation “ammonia-fuelled vessels” from DNV.
  • Breman Innovation‘s Eye Catcher is a remotely operated tool for docking and undocking cargo. It enables cargo handling without human intervention.
  • Conoship International has created a standardised, modular coaster design with diesel-electric propulsion that is future-ready; the CIP Series.

Also read: Seaqualize wins Maritime Innovation Award 2024

The Maritime Achievement Award

The Maritime Achievement Award recognises a maritime achievement with social impact and broad public visibility. This year’s nominees are:

  • Port of Rotterdam Authority – Portlantis: Portlantis is a brand new, interactive experience centre that takes visitors into the story of the port of Rotterdam and the maritime sector. Here, young and old discover the meaning of the maritime sector through play. In this way, they discover the significance of the sector, and the port in particular, for the Netherlands and for Europe. The high number of visitors since the opening underlines the success. The jury appreciates this investment in knowledge sharing and promotion of the sector.
  • Heerema Marine Contractors – Heerema installs monopile foundations at He Dreiht: With an impressive film, Heerema shows how innovation and care for nature can go hand in hand. When installing offshore wind turbines, the company applies advanced noise-reduction techniques with real-time monitoring to protect marine life. It shows that the energy transition does not have to come at the expense of nature. The nomination is an appreciation of Heerema’s social commitment.
  • Silvan Floor – Rotterdam Mainport Institute: Silvan Floor is an inspired teacher of nautical subjects, loved for his passion, dedication and innovative teaching methods. From his own experience, Floor tries to enthuse students for what he himself describes as ‘the most beautiful profession in the world’. According to him, this is not only about knowledge, but also about ‘motivation and developing the ability to continue learning independently in a changing practice’. The jury sees his commitment as an encouragement to all teachers in maritime education.

Also read: Royal Bodewes documentary lands Maritime Achievement Award

Maritime Security Award

The Maritime Security Award is a sectoral recognition of an innovation in security within maritime parts of the Dutch government. This year’s nominees are:

  • Teun van Schriek – With the increasing threat from the east, the Royal Netherlands Navy needs to catch up in protecting units and shipping from submarines. Van Schriek’s research focuses on modernising current tactics to use AI to optimise the search for submarines. The research can directly lead to an improvement in tactics for the Royal Netherlands Navy and NATO units.
  • Roos Dees – The North Sea contains critical infrastructure for the Netherlands and is currently inadequately protected. The research by LTZ3 Dees looks at deploying existing fibre-optic cables to continuously detect vibrations and convert these vibrations to ship observations. This technology makes it possible to map suspicious activity in the North Sea. The benefit of the research is that current infrastructures can be used to protect the North Sea.
  • Mirjam Hochstenbach – The Royal Netherlands Navy is to acquire new submarines. With the ever-increasing complexity and importance of underwater sensors, it is essential to optimise the processing of acoustic data. Hochstenbach’s research looks at the use of AI to improve passive sonar classification. The research was conducted very carefully and can be used in the further development of Dutch sonar capabilities.

Also read: Maritime Security Award for dark vessel research

The Maritime Awards Gala 2025 is made possible by the main sponsors Breedveld Staal, Damen Shipyards Group, Europort2025, NNPC, Port of Rotterdam, and Praxis Automation Technology BV.

Picture: The Maritime Awards winners 2024 (photo by the Maritime Awards Gala).