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Shipping's best of the best honoured at Lloyd's List Asia Awards

Mike Grinter, Singapore - Thursday 16 October 2008

A VAST gathering of Asia’s maritime top brass managed to put the global economic crisis out of mind for a few delightful hours at the Lloyd’s List Asia Awards in Singapore last night.

In the splendid ballroom of the Marina Mandarin on a typical balmy evening in the Lion State, Lloyd’s List and a panel of international judges delivered their verdict to the best of the best in a representative range of maritime sectors.

As always the highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award. This year the crowd rose in unison as Tan Beng Tee, head of International Maritime Centre Division, Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore, was called up on stage.

The much-coveted Lifetime Achievement Award is chosen by a panel of senior journalists at Lloyd’s List and given to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the development of Asia’s maritime industry.

The choice of Ms Tan ticked all the correct boxes and more. For over 20 years she has been a highly respected figure in the development of Singapore as the premier Asian Maritime Centre. From her work at the Trade Development Board to her present position, she has played a key role in the development and promotion of initiatives and incentives that have successfully attracted more than 100 shipowners to the shores of Singapore.

While she has worked tirelessly both with local and international companies and the local authorities to help Singapore realise its vision of becoming a major global maritime centre, perhaps her most memorable achievement was her role in the introduction of the Approved International Shipping Enterprise Scheme.

For the first time the event introduced the Newsmaker of the Year Award, which was richly deserved by president and chief executive of NOL, Ron Widdows.

The Newsmaker of the Year is a new category chosen by senior journalists at Lloyd’s List and is an award for an individual in Asian shipping who has had a major impact on the headlines this year.

This year’s Lloyd’s List Asia Awards Newsmaker of the Year is one of the leading figures in the container liner shipping industry. He is both the head of one of the world’s top liner companies, which has never been far from the headlines in recent months, and has played a highly active role in industry groupings such as the Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement. In these roles he has encouraged greater transparency in the industry and actively lobbied on its behalf for a greater recognition at governmental level.

Mr Widdows was also able to bathe in the glory of APL’s award as Asian Container Shipping Line of the Year.

The world’s number one port was again in the spotlight when the Container Terminal Operator of the Year went to PSA International.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, already the largest shipbuilder in the world, stands on the verge of greatness as it awaits the result of it bid for Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, but last night, picking up the award for Asia’s best shipyard seemed sufficient for now.

HHI was the only company on the night to win two awards when it also walked away with the Innovation Award.

Financier of the Year Award went to the world’s local bank HSBC.

Singapore had other notable triumphs, including the Singapore Maritime Authority for the Training and Crewing Award, Thome Ship Management for Ship Manager of the Year, and Keppel Shipyard for Asia’s Best Shiprepair Yard.

The Logistics Award went to a relative newcomer to the region — Agility Logistics.

Lloyd’s Register took away the Classification Society Award for its tremendous growth in the region and its association with such high profile projects as Nakilat’s Q-Max and Q-Flex series of LNG carriers.

Other victors on the night were Noble Chartering, which took home the award for Best Dry Bulk Owner/Operator, while Wallenius Wilhemsen took away the increasingly prestigious Award for Achievement in Safety & Environmental Protection.

Last but not least, Chemoil won the Maritime Services Award.