Following on from the success of last year’s HR Initiative Awards, in 2025 Spinnaker decided to expand the award programme with 3 new award categories, Learning & Development, Health & Wellbeing and Employee Engagement. This year they had 18 entries across the 3 awards from 15 different companies.
The awards were judged by Heidi Watson, Employment Partner, Clyde & Co, the Editor of TradeWinds, Julian Bray and Chairman of Spinnaker, Phil Parry.
Learning & Development
The Learning and Development Award recognises initiatives that foster talent growth and professional development such as leadership training programmes, graduate schemes and mentorships, and coaching initiatives. This year the Learning & Development award was sponsored by Mintra, a leading provider of digital learning for shipping companies worldwide.
The award was presented by Mintra’s Sales Director Jorunn Eldoy.
There were 2 runners up – Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement for their BSM Smart Academy. This bridges the gap between academic theory and maritime practice by integrating cadet development with undergrad programmes. The second runner up was Pertamina International Shipping for their two flagship leadership programmes, New Wave for Assistant Managers and Navigator for new Managers. This was put in place to help build a globally competent maritime leadership pipeline
The winner of the Learning & Development Initiative was Oldendorff Carriers with their Global Cadet Programme. This programme promotes merit-based advancement and diversity. The Cadet to Master trajectory ensures a structured development path with onboard mentorship, cross-functional exposure and ongoing performanc reviews. As of 2024, Oldendorff have over 60% female deck cadets with representation from 17 nationalities.
The judges, Spinnaker’s Phil Parry, Editor-in-Chief of TradeWines, Julian Bray and Clyde Partner Heidi Watson said about the entry “Oldendorff are clearly committed to making change and going over and above what’s expected of them. It’s bold and has scale. They have identified a problem, have a plan and are attacking it head on. We (as judges) felt that 60% of new cadets being female was a staggering figure and showed that Oldendorff are sticking their neck out in an attempt to make real change.”
Employee Engagement
The Employee Engagement Award recognises exceptional programmes that empower and connect teams. This could be anything from company culture to employee recognition schemes and effective communication channels. This year the Employee Engagement award was sponsored by Novikontas Maritime College, a Maritime and Offshore Training and Education institution. The award was presented by their Head of Maritime Training Division Marcis Zabovs.
AET were one of the runners- up with 3 global campaigns, AETCares, OneAET and AETInnovates. These all foster unity across regions through team-building, wellness events, cultural celebrations and recognition initiatives. Our second runner up was Bahri Shipmanagement. They have created a ‘family-like culture’ through wellness sessions, leadership dialogues, family day events, onboard festivities and inclusive celebrations.
The winner of the Employee Engagement Initiative was Ardmore Shipping with their ‘Crew’s Got Talent’. This is a vibrant inter-vessel competition where each month vessels participate in themed challenged. These range from photography, to cooking challenges, to dancing and design, with winning vessels earning cash prizes for their welfare fund.
What the judges liked about Ardmore’s entry was the genuine sense of fun and engagement among their ships’ crews. This was a competition between the ships in their fleet with the winning ships receiving cash top ups to their welfare funds. It was light-hearted (hilarious in fact) and played on the trend for talent shows on television nowadays
Health & Wellbeing
The Health & Wellbeing Award honours initiatives that prioritise employees’ physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. This may include mental health support, fitness initiatives, work-life balance policies and flexible working arrangements. This year the Health & Wellbeing award was sponsored by Agwa. Agwa have innovated a system which enables crew to grow their own vegetables on board.
The award was presented by their VP product Maayan Castel.
The runner up was Sailors’ Society for their peer-to-peer support groups on WhatsApp. It creates safe spaces for seafarers to connect, share and seek emotional support. It includes groups for cadets, captains, women and LGBTQ+ seafarers.
The highly commended in this category was Wallen Group for their ‘Women of Wallem’ and ‘Adopt a Ship’ programmes. WoW unites mothers, wives and partners together into supportive networks that run local workshops, outreach activities and emotional support. Adopt a Ship connects primary school students to maritime life promoting awareness and diversity in shipping.
The winner of the Health & Wellbeing Initiative was Navigator Gas with their Navigator Wellbeing programme that works to enhance engagement by focusing on understanding yourself, healthy lifestyle and incorporating wellbeing. It includes initiatives such as coffee roulette, heart screenings, fitness clubs, team-building budgets and more.
The judges felt that Navigator’s HR team had clearly invested the time and energy in thinking of a long list of initiatives that show real investment in their people.
Spinnaker CEO Phil Parry was delighted that so many organisations took the time to take part and that HR teams were clearly looking to address workplace challenges both at sea and ashore.
