Hessa Al Malek, the executive director for maritime sector, at UAE Federal Transport Authority - Land and Marine, has been declared as ‘Seatrade Personality of the Year 2017’ at a major industry event in Dubai, UAE.

Hessa Al Malek, the executive director for maritime sector, at UAE Federal Transport Authority - Land and Marine, has been declared as ‘Seatrade Personality of the Year 2017’ at the Seatrade Maritime Awards Middle East, Indian Subcontinent & Africa 2017 event held in Dubai, UAE.

The event honoured some of maritime’s most esteemed and noteworthy figures with more than 700 of the industry’s leading personalities in attendance, said a statement from the authority.

Now in its 14th edition, the awards continues to honour individuals, organisations and companies from across the regional shipping industry, it said.

This year’s event was held under the patronage of Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulaymen, chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation and chairman of Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA); and was hosted by international broadcaster, Tom Urquhart.

In a slight change to previous events, the individual awards were presented during the first part of the evening.

Also, a new addition this year was the ‘Humanitarian Award’ to honour an outstanding hudmanitarian effort and recognise an individual who responded to danger through acts of selflessness and courage at sea.

This award was presented to Faiz Al Junaibi, a fisherman by trade, for his bravery and his quick presence of mind in evacuating all 20 members of a sinking vessel under extremely difficult conditions.

The award was presented to him by Dr Abdulla Behaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of UAE Infrastructure and Chairman of the UAE Federal Transport Authority and Dr Paul Burt, regional director, The Mission to Seafarers.

Chris Hayman, the chairman of Seatrade, said: "These awards were established to offer a platform to promote significant contribution and pioneering advancements across the maritime and shipping world and along with the Seatrade Awards in London and the Seatrade Maritime Awards in Asia, are now widely regarded as the maritime premier awards globally."-TradeArabia News Service