Piracy was the theme of the evening at the 23rd Seatrade Awards Ceremony Dinner, held April 4 at Londons Guildhall. International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General, Efthimios Mitropoulos chaired the event which honored exceptional contributions made over the last year within the maritime industry.
Westmark BV, based in The Netherlands, was named a finalist in the Safety at Sea category for its anti-piracy protection product, P-Trap.
The Seatrade Special Award for Countering Piracy was presented to Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General United Nations (UN), and a separate award was dedicated to the seafarers of the world who have been endangered by maritime piracy. The awards were presented by HRH The Princess Royal, who highlighted the importance of finding solutions to the piracy problem, “Over 600 seafarers are currently being held hostage by pirates and there are more incidents on a weekly basis. Finding a suitable answer to piracy is an international problem and a solution must be found internationally.”
