Yesterday, leading shipping publication Containerisation International (CI) honoured shipping line Safmarine by presenting the line with the 'Investment in People of the Year' award.
John Fossey, Editor of CI, said it was the aim of the publication to recognise those in the shipping industry for their innovative ideas and new services in the container shipping environment.
"The past two years have been very challenging for the shipping industry and companies have had to be more innovative and more service-minded than ever before."
In early July, an eight-strong judging panel met in London to review the entries received for the event and to draw up a shortlist. The winners were announced at a grand luncheon in central London on Thursday October 13.
The Investment in People category was well supported with the judges generally impressed by the high standard of the submissions. 'The entries demonstrated just how important staff are in any organisation and what can be achieved in terms of performance and branding by putting in place the right motivational and training programmes,' commented panellist James Tweed, managing director at Coracle online.
Receiving the award on behalf of the company, Safmarine's Global HR Director, Con De Ruig, commented: "We rolled out classroom training on our new CRM system for over 600 sales staff; we conducted face-to-face change management coaching to all Directors worldwide; we had 72 teams of six people from 80 Safmarine countries in Belgium in June to enjoy teambuilding activities with customers and colleagues and we have annual Safmarine Way and Customer Care awards with an online voting system where customers and staff can vote for Safmariners."