Across the Irish Sea, Mersey Maritime, the regional cluster organisation for the maritime industry in the Liverpool City Region and the greater North West, has put out the final call for entries for its ninth annual industry awards.

Now recognised as one of the biggest events in the calendar of the UK’s £116bn maritime sector, the Mersey Maritime Industry Awards (MMIAs) celebrate the achievements of the industry’s most outstanding companies and individuals.

Taking place in the magnificent surroundings of Liverpool Cathedral on Thursday, November 2, from 6.30pm to 11pm, the MMIAs are open to any business, company, individual, non-profit organisation or charity, operating in or supporting the maritime, logistics and energy sectors (not just members of Mersey Maritime).

Mersey Maritime welcomes entries from across the Liverpool City Region, where the thriving industry is worth £5bn a year, as well as the wider North West. Three of the 12 awards categories are also open to national entries.

There are still opportunities to join the growing list of sponsors at the event as well as purchasing tables and tickets. More than 600 industry professionals from across the UK are expected to attend.

The 12 awards categories are:

⦁ Business of the Year
⦁ Diversity Champion Award (national award)
⦁ Employer of the Year
⦁ Future Skills Award (national award)
⦁ International Trade Award
⦁ Maritime Ambassador Award
⦁ Maritime Professional Services Award
⦁ Net Zero Award (national award)
⦁ Positive Impact Award
⦁ Rising Star Award
⦁ Small Business of the Year
⦁ Technology & Innovation Award

Every application received is assessed by Mersey Maritime’s industry judging panel who select the finalists for each category following a rigorous process. The winner of each category will once again be determined by the industry itself, with an industry voting platform launching in early October 2023.

Founded in 2002, Mersey Maritime was conceived to create an ecosystem, championing and supporting one of the most diverse maritime regions in the UK. In the past few years, it has helped to accelerate the growth of the Liverpool city region maritime sector which is now recognised as one of the most successful industry clusters in Europe.

Mersey Maritime Interim Chief Executive, Ruth Wood, said: “In June we brought together UK maritime leaders, from industry, academia and Government, to discuss the key issues facing our sector today and over the coming decades. In November we will once again bring people from across the industry together to showcase and celebrate their fantastic achievements. This is fundamental to what we do at Mersey Maritime. Amid the breath-taking backdrop of Liverpool Cathedral, we will demonstrate what a dynamic and collaborative community the UK maritime industry is. And we want as many people as possible to be a part of it.”

For more details about the application process or to submit your entrant, click here. To book tickets or tables for the awards ceremony, click here. If you are interested in being one of the sponsors, click here.

Diamond Sponsors for the MMIAs are Kays Medical and Liverpool John Moores University. Category sponsors include Brookes Bell, Carmet Tug Company, Denholm Logistics, D Morgan, MTC, Nautilus International, Royal HaskoningDHV, and Royal Navy.

#ports - A UK ports operator the Peel Ports Group has received the ‘Freight & Logistics’ category prize at the prestigious Mersey Maritime Industry Awards held in Liverpool.

Over 400 guests attended the annual event last Thursday where accolades were handed out to the best of the maritime industry from the Liverpool City Region and across the UK.

2018 was a year of significant milestones for Peel Ports, especially its container division in Liverpool, including a first direct call from China, its biggest container ship to date, a new rail freight service and a double-digit growth.

Accepting the award in Liverpool on behalf of Peel Ports, Chief Operating Officer, Patrick Walters said: “We are leading the way in bringing enhanced resilience and efficiency to the supply chain. By offering a viable, and in many ways more efficient, alternative to southern ports, the Port of Liverpool is supporting much needed change in the freight and logistics sector that will ultimately reduce costs, road miles and carbon emissions.”

The company has also secured a new 2M permanent transatlantic container service, the Canadian Express service connecting southern European Ports with Liverpool and ultimately Canada, as well as continued growth with key customers and national retailers such as B&M. Peel Ports is set to bring 250 new staff on board during 2019 in anticipation of new commercial opportunities.

For further information on Mersey Maritime, click here. 

In addition to UK ports, Afloat adds the group also operates the MTL Terminal in Dublin Port with connections to the UK, the Netherlands, France, Iberia and onwards worldwide. The container terminal which has an annual throughput of 170,000 TEU is located on the South Bank Quay adjacent to the Poolbeg Y&BC in Ringsend. 

#MaritimeAwards - The Mersey Maritime annual awards judges met for the first time on Thursday as organisers say they have been "overwhelmed" with the number of entries, writes Liverpool Echo.

Birkenhead-based Mersey Maritime, an umbrella organisation for the Liverpool city region's maritime, logistics and energy sectors, said it had received "strong entries" for all nine categories.

They are Business of the Year; Vocational Skills Award (individual award); SME Business of the Year; Engineering Company of the Year; Environmental Award; Supply Chain Partnership; Best Newcomer (company award); Global Reach Award; Ambassador of the Year Award.

The winners will be announced at a gala dinner on March 12. For more on this story, click HERE.

Afloat.addes that the photograph accompanying the Merseyside newspaper shows the Cammell Laird Shipyard and repair facility in Birkenhead.

Pictured in the dry dock is Irish Ferries Ulysses which as previously reported has returned to Dublin-Holyhead service. The operator's Isle of Inishmore from the Rosslare-Pembroke route is currently taking her turn at the same facility for annual overhaul.

In the adjoining dry-dock to that of Ulysses, was Caledonian MacBrayne's ferry, Caledonian Isles which has since resumed the Isle of Aran's Brodick-Ardrossan service. A fleetmate, Isle of Lewis is currently undergoing work having taken the place of the Firth of Clyde ferry.