A gala night of achievements in Athens

The number of nominations for the various International Tanker Shipping & Trade Awards was considerable, reflecting the ever-increasing pace of development in the tanker sector in the era of decarbonisation.

Following a drinks reception kindly provided by IRI/The Marshall Islands Registry, the Awards took place during a gala dinner, sponsored by Dutch pump solutions provider Marflex and NAPA of Finland, a maritime software and data services provider for ship design and operations.

The first award of the evening was for Supplier of the Year and the shortlisted nominees were DeepSea, Technava, Columbia Shipmanagement, Jotun Hellas, Value Maritime and Signol.

It was Jotun Hellas that was the winner of the Supplier of the Year Award for its innovative drone inspection service, which provides enhanced assessment of tanker condition to optimise maintenance, safety and performance. Jotun Performance Coating marine general manager Dimitris Zarogiannis stepped up to receive the Award.

In the Environment Award 2023 category, there were no less than five tanker owners and operators comprising: Euronav, Prime Marine, Odfjell, KOTC and Okeanis Eco Tankers.

All the companies involved are a credit to the tanker industry and the industry chose to recognise the achievements of Odfjell SE. Odfjell needs no introduction and has been at the forefront of the tanker industry’s sustainability leadership through pioneering emissions reductions, renewable propulsion and green fuel supply chain enablement.

Odfjell SE chief sustainability officer Øistein Jensen collected the Award, but little did he know its was going to be a busy night…

The Tanker of the Year Award was contested by a wide array of vessels ranging from the VLCCs to specialised tankers of 5,300 dwt.

To be nominated by peers is a great achievement for any owner and the audience was clearly satisfied Maran Tankers’ Antonis I Angelicoussis was presented Tanker of the Year 2023. The prize was collected by Maran Tankers projects manager and member of the RINA IMO Committee, Kostas Andrikopoulos.

The first half of the Gala Dinner drew to a close with the Tanker Operator of the Year Award 2023 presentation, which was kindly sponsored by DNV. It was DNV senior vice president and business director tankers, maritime, Catrine Vestereng who invited Øistein Jensen back onto the stage to collect the award on behalf of Odfjell, which narrowly beat the two other candidates Hafnia and KOTC.

After the dinner was concluded, three further presentations took place. These three Awards had already been announced, including that of Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2023 to Seabound co-founder and chief executive Alisha Fredriksson.

Ms Fredriksson thanked those involved and said her company, Seabound, was the result of careful research into the technologies available and the venture was transitioning to maritime implementation.

RINA technical director Antonis Trakakis was next to the stage, to receive his well-deserved Industry Leader Award 2023 and last, but not least, was the Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented to Anders Engholm, a founding partner of Hafnia, after a moving tribute of montage video featuring colleagues and friends. These include luminaries Hafnia chief executive Mikael Skou, but he saved his most fulsome praise for the one person who has provided the most support to his career – his wife Lene.