The winners of the 2014 International Seafarers' Welfare Awards were announced on Monday 7 April during a high profile ceremony hosted by Secretary General of the International Labour Organisation, Mr Guy Ryder at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland.

The winners are:
• Judges Special Award : Ms Apinya Tajit, Thailand
• Shipping Company of the Year: Wallem Ship Management
• Port of the Year: Port of Antwerp, Belgium
• Seafarer Centre of the Year: Flying Angel Club, Fremantle, Australia
• Dr Dierk Lindemann Welfare Personality of the Year Award: Fr Paul Noel, Durban, South Africa

The Welfare personality of the Year Award is named after Dr Dierk Lindemann who sadly passed away on 17 March 2014. Dr Lindemann served as the Shipowner's Group spokesperson at the ILO and took a lead role in getting the Maritime Labour Convention adopted.

Welcoming participants at the award ceremony, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder, said the awards represented the "recognition of people who do extraordinary work and are an encouragement to make further efforts for the welfare of seafarers. These are really important objectives and the ILO is pleased to play a role in this ceremony."

"Working at sea in isolated circumstances can and does leave seafarers highly vulnerable," Mr. Ryder said. "These realities should encourage all of us to redouble our efforts to ensure the welfare of those 1.5 million seafarers around the world."

Commenting on the evening Roger Harris, ISWAN Executive Director, said: "The awards recognise excellent achievement and they inspire others to do more for the welfare of seafarers. We are particularly pleased that the awards are being held at the ILO with the Maritime Labour Convention eight months in force."

This year's judges were Mr Masamichi Morooka President of the International Shipping Federation and International Chamber of Shipping, Mr Steve Cotton, Acting General Secretary of the International Transport Workers' Federation, Dr Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, Director of the International Labour Standards Department, International Labour Organisation and Fr Bruno Ciceri, Chairman of the International Christian Maritime Association.

Photos of the awards can be viewed here.

The awards are generously funded by the ITF Seafarers' Trust. The awards are also supported & endorsed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), International Shipping Federation (ISF), and the Intentional Christian Maritime Association (ICMA). International Shipping Federation (ISF) is sponsoring the Welfare Personality of the Year Award and Wrist Ship Supply is sponsoring Seafarer Centre of the Year Awards. Crewtoo is the media sponsor of the awards.

Further information about the awards can be found at www.seafarerswelfareawards.org.

Videos of two of the award winners