The winners of this year’s SMART4SEA Awards were announced at a special virtual ceremony which took place on Wednesday 28th of February, 2024. The awards focus exclusively on initiatives and individuals who foster Safety Excellence & Sustainable Shipping, following a combination of open nomination and audience-vote.

SMART4SEA E-Navigation Award

Winner
Weathernews Inc.
For facilitating e-navigation with weather intelligence, forecasting, route optimization, emission monitoring, performance monitoring, and more. Recently, the company with Dataloy to provide unique weather integration for Smarter Voyage Management.

Mr. Elias J. Makris, Director for European Business Development, Weathernews Inc.:

At Weathernews, safety has always been and will always be our top priority. In the face of the shipping industry’s complex challenges, collaboration becomes paramount. We, at Weathernews, firmly believe in the power of collaboration to navigate towards a sustainable and profitable shipping future. This award underscores the success of our collaborative approach evident in the development of Sea Navigator.

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SMART4SEA Connectivity Award

Winner
Ardmore Shipping
For its “Ardmore Crew’s Got Talent” program that aims to foster connectivity among crew members. This is an inter-vessel competition with the goal of showcasing essential talents, encouraging the crew to engage in recreational and team-building activities.

Capt. Yadu Bassi, Marine Personnel Manager, Ardmore Shipping:

I am truly honored to accept SMART4SEA connectivity award. This recognition reflects the dedication and creativity of our incredible crew members. This award is a testament of collective spirit and dedication of a crew. I extend gratitude to each crew member.

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SMART4SEA Energy Efficiency Award

Winner
ZeroNorth
For its Vessel Optimisation service which is multi-service platform that harnesses data to generate advanced insights on how to reduce fuel consumption via speed, route and weather optimisation, and reduce and monitor emissions to support sustainability goals.

Mr. Soren Christian Meyer, Founder & CEO, ZeroNorth:

Change is not about technology, change is about changed behaviors and technologies that can enable that. We’re very proud of working with our customers on that. The reward here is not only a recognition to the company and its efforts, it’s to all the employees that have done the hard work, both building the technology and continuing to evolve the technology.

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SMART4SEA Cyber Security Award

Winner
Marlink
For its ‘CyberGuard UTM’ solution using a ‘Firewall as a Service’ model, which enables customers to seize the digital trend while maximizing the protection of their IT and OT assets against cyber security threats. The company also operates its own Maritime Security Operations Centre (SOC).

Mr. Patrick Decool, VP Cyber Security & IOT Solutions, Marlink:

I am very proud to receive the SMART4SEA award. It’s a fantastic recognition for all teams and VP Cyber Security & IOT Solutions, especially for our maritime community. Within a few clicks, our customers can really move from a normal to a completely detection and protection environment. Our solutions are embedded, so we give our clients a view of all the security elements.

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SMART4SEA Training Award

Winner
OneLearn Global
For offering an eLearning Diversity course to raise awareness and inspire greater understanding of the cultural differences generated among a globally diversified workforce. The highly interactive Diversity course enables participants to apply the concepts of diversity and inclusion.

Mr. Marinos Kokkinis, Managing Director, OneLearn Global:

I’m honored and delighted that we’ve been announced as the winners of this award. We’re very proud of our diversity course, designed to raise awareness and inspire greater understanding of the cultural differences generated among a globally diversified workforce. It is crucial the industry welcomes more people onboard of different race, culture and gender. Crew members should be given the tools to understand this evolving culture within the industry.

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SMART4SEA Technology Award

Winner
Danelec
For its ‘’Danelec Connect’’ platform. From daily reports, in-depth historical analysis, and emission reporting, to ROI-focused performance benchmarks, Danelec Connect equips maritime stakeholders with unparalleled actionable insights.

Mr. Christian Treu, SVP, Connect & IoT Business, Danelec:

Thank you for the award. At DanelecConnect, we have really been working hard on creating a product that will help the shipowners make better decisions and operations, both for safety reasons and also for fuel savings and emissions. The next 12 months are also going to be interesting.

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SMART4SEA Personality Award

Winner
Mr. Oskar Levander, Vice President Strategy & Business Development, Integration & Energy, Kongsberg Maritime
For being a pioneer and a key figure in the development of autonomous and smart shipping. He has contributed to the concept of the ‘intelligent ship’ and played a vital role in the development of new ship designs, machinery and propulsion concepts for various ship types and emerging marine technologies.

Mr. Oskar Levander, Vice President Strategy & Business Development, Integration & Energy, Kongsberg Maritime:

It is a great pleasure to receive this personality award. A concept that I’m truly excited about is support vessels currently on the construction for each subsea. I got the idea for the rest of the concert back in 2015 and we started to develop the initial designing.  It took a few years and many dedicated people have been involved, but now a groundbreaking solution is being constructed. It combines a new technology, novel design with a totally new business one.

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SMART4SEA Leadership Award

Winner
Mr. Alexander Varvarenko, Founder & Owner, Shipnext
For his pioneering efforts and exemplary leadership in innovation and digitalization of shipping, transportation and supply chain management. Boasting an extensive 22-year background in international shipping, he stands as the driving force behind Shipnext. This digital shipping platform seamlessly integrates machine learning, artificial intelligence, and cutting-edge technologies to revolutionize data processing and management, ultimately elevating operational efficiency to unprecedented.

Mr. Alexander Varvarenko, Founder & Owner, Shipnext :

Every man has thought to build a house, have children, and plant a tree. But, there is a much heavier duty upon a leader. A leader must be proud of what he or she builds and achieves, and no leader is a leader without his team. I’m very proud of my team, they are absolutely great, located in so many countries around the world.

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About SMART4SEA Awards

SMART4SEA Awards are part of the SMART4SEA Forum within the scope of fostering Smart & Sustainable Shipping. The process to be employed is a combination of open nomination and vote. The award categories are:

SMART4SEA E-Navigation Award
To be awarded to an organization that provided a significant achievement, breakthrough or contribution in any aspect of e-navigation in shipping.

SMART4SEA Connectivity Award
To be awarded to an organization that provided a significant achievement, breakthrough or contribution with respect to ship connectivity.

SMART4SEA Energy Efficiency Award
To be awarded to an organization that provided a significant achievement, breakthrough or contribution in any aspect of energy efficiency in shipping.

SMART4SEA Cyber Security Award
To be awarded to an organization that provided a significant achievement, breakthrough or contribution in any aspect of Cyber Security in shipping.

SMART4SEA Training Award
To be awarded to an organization that provided a significant achievement, breakthrough or contribution in any aspect of Training with respect to smart shipping.

SMART4SEA Technology Award
To be awarded to an organization that provided a milestone technological achievement or breakthrough or significant contribution in any aspect of smart maritime activity.

SMART4SEA Personality Award
To be awarded to an individual that provided industry influence and contributed towards smarter shipping.

SMART4SEA Leadership Award
To be awarded to an individual that has provided industry leadership and contributed towards smarter shipping throughout his/her career.

Notification procedure is initiated few months ahead of the event with an open invitation to the industry stakeholders to propose nominations online via relevant form at dedicated awards page. Shortlisted nominees are announced within a week after nomination submission is concluded and open vote to declare the winner of each category is available for a period of three months through relevant application at dedicated awards page. Winners are announced at the award ceremony.