AOTOS award winners are announced; earning honors are C.R. England’s vets, Easy, environmental champions, NYK, outstanding young professional and state DOTs.
Phil Greene, TOTE’s executive vice president and senior adviser and a retired Navy rear admiral, was presented the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Seamen’s Church Institute’s 42nd annual Silver Bells Awards.
Greene (pictured above center) was recognized for his more than 40 years of leadership and service to the U.S. Armed Forces, seafarers in the United States and beyond and others engaged in the international maritime industry.
The awards dinner raises funds to support the Seamen’s Church Institute’s mission of advocacy, education and chaplaincy for merchant mariners at America’s ports.
“Phil has dedicated his career to serving his country, fellow seafarers and the maritime industry and there is hardly a more deserving recipient for this lifetime achievement award,” said TOTE President and CEO Tim Nolan. “His embodiment of TOTE’s core values — safety, commitment and integrity — complement the Seamen’s Church Institute mission and exemplify TOTE’s commitment to supporting the maritime community.”
Greene sits on the board of directors of the United Seamen’s Service and the National Cargo Bureau. He also is a member of the American Shipping Bureau and the Marine Society of the City of New York.
He joined TOTE in September 2012 and served as president of TOTE Services from February 2013 until January of this year. Prior to joining TOTE, Greene held a series of prominent federal service roles, including U.S. Department of Transportation chair at the National Defense University and superintendent of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
During his Navy career from 1978 to 2010, he received various service and unit awards, including the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal and Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal.
The United Seamen’s Service (USS) 2019 Admiral of the Ocean Sea Awards will be presented to James Given, Anil Mathur and Joseph Pyne.
The Admiral of the Ocean Seas (AOTOS) awards will be presented at the 50th annual awards gala Nov. 1 in New York City.
Given is president of the Seafarers International Union (SIU) of Canada; Mathur is president and CEO of Alaska Tanker Corp.; and Pyne is chairman of the board of Kirby Corp.
In announcing the recipients, AOTOS Committee Chairman Kenneth Wykle said, “Jim Given, a maritime labor leader in neighboring Canada, has worked in a spirit of cooperation with American seafarer unions on mutual issues. Anil Mathur heads an American shipping company dedicated to carrying crude oil from Alaska to its various markets. Finally, Joe Pyne chairs Kirby Corporation, the premier tank barge operator in the United States.”
Given joined the SIU in 1979. He sailed for 13 years on ferries, tankers, self-unloaders, bulk carriers and cement carriers. He served as a union official for 22 years. The SIU represents unlicensed seafarers working aboard vessels on the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and on the East and West Coasts.
Prior to joining Alaska Tanker, Mathur worked for British Petroleum for 20 years in management, corporate planning and facilities engineering. He also spent five years at Cities Service Co. in engineering and research and development. Alaska Tanker was created in 1999 by Keystone Shipping Co., OSG Ship Management and BP Oil Shipping Co. to consolidate all of BP’s Alaska crude oil shipping requirements into one operating company.
Payne started his career with Houston-based Kirby in 1978 and held numerous executive positions, including chief executive officer, president and executive vice president. He has been a company director since 1988. He retired in April 2018 but continues to serve Kirby as chairman of the board in a nonexecutive role.
Proceeds from the AOTOS event benefit USS community services abroad for the U.S. merchant marine, seafarers of all nations and U.S. government and military overseas. Heroic American seafarers also will be recognized for their bravery at sea during the Nov. 1 event.
C.R. England added three drivers to its Honored Veterans Fleet at a recognition program at its corporate offices in Salt Lake City last week.
The newest members of the fleet are Garth Patterson, John Crabtree and Richard McDonald.
Patterson served in the Army from 1972 to 2004 as part of the U.S. Special Forces and as a CID and CIG agent. He has been with C.R. England for 13 years and is a One Million Mile Safe Driver.
Crabtree served in the Army from 1993 to 1996 as an MP stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. He began driving for C.R. England 13 years ago and is a Two Million Mile Safe Driver.
McDonald served in the Army National Guard from 1964 to 1972. He has been with C.R. England for 35 years and has achieved the feat of driving 3 million miles without an accident.
Also recognized was 26-year employee Steve Atkins, the director of maintenance for the dedicated fleets. Atkins enlisted in the Navy in November 1988 and served on board the USS Coral Sea as a machinist mate. He was honorably discharged as a petty officer third class engineman in 1992.
Since 2014, C.R. England has been recognizing its drivers with military service backgrounds and exemplary safety records and adding them to the Honored Veterans Fleet. There currently are 42 military veterans who make up the fleet.
“We recognize the need to ensure that the honored men and women coming out of the military have great jobs,” said C.R. England Chairman Dan England. “We have a large group of incredible veteran team members, but these drivers we honor today were hand selected to be recognized for their great job at C.R. England and for honorably serving our country.”
Express Air Systems (Easy), a provider of express air freight and a joint venture of DB Schenker and Kühne & Nagel, has been recognized as a European digital pioneer in the SME sector.
The Digital Champions Award, presented by WirtschaftsWoche in cooperation with Telekom, is presented annually to projects at medium-sized companies as part of the cross-industry initiative DIGITAL X.
Easy was awarded for its online search engine and booking platform for express air freight.
“With just a few clicks, the customer receives the information to make a transparent and fast decision and can then immediately place his freight booking. This means a great reduction in the work for our customer and a huge simplification and acceleration of the entire air freight handling process,” said Frederik Luz, managing director of Easy. “For Easy, it’s a substantial change to the business model — a true digital transformation.”
“K” Line recently presented its environmental awards.
Daito Corp. received the Grand Award for its efforts to reduce fuel consumption by easing traffic congestion at the OHI container terminal.
The Green Journey Award went to “K” Line America Inc. for its vessel speed reduction participation as part of the Clean Vessel Incentive Program of Harbor Authorities in New York and New Jersey.
Excellence awards went to Seagate Corp. for green management, Nitto Total Logistics Ltd. for its 5S activities, “K” Line Ship Management (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. for its marine biodiversity awareness and Nitto Tugboat Co. Ltd. for its participation in the Port Mizushima cleaning activities.
NYK was awarded the grand prize at IT Japan Award 2019 organized by Nikkei Computer magazine in recognition of efforts to use the Internet of Things as a preventive measure against vessel operation failure.
In June 21, Nikkei Computer and the Nikkei xTECH website reported on NYK’s use of IoT equipment installed on about 200 vessels to monitor conditions of the engine and other machinery, unify data names and units that differ by vessel and gather data for land offices to monitor so possible engine failure can be detected at an early stage.
Hidetoshi Maruyama, NYK senior managing corporate officer, will speak at the IT Management Forum sponsored by Nikkei Business Publications Inc. on July 10 and receive the award.
The Ports of Indiana has received Green Marine certification for all three of its port locations for its commitment to advance environmental sustainability initiatives. It is the first statewide port authority to achieve the distinction.
Green Marine presented the certificate to the Ports of Indiana’s general counsel, Andrea Hermer, during its annual GreenTech conference in Cleveland
Green Marine is a voluntary initiative to improve environmental performance beyond regulatory compliance in key areas such as aquatic invasive species, greenhouse gases and air pollutants, spill prevention, dry bulk handling and storage, community impact, environmental leadership, stormwater and waste management and underwater noise.
The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor, located on Lake Michigan, received certification in 2014. Adding the two river ports, Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville and Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon, extends the benefits of the Green Marine certification process to the Inland Waterway System and carries with it the distinction for the two ports to be the first to do so along the Ohio River and the Upper Mississippi Basin, according to the Ports of Indiana.
“From stormwater management to community impact, the Green Marine certification verifies the Ports of Indiana’s performance, achievements and commitment to implement continuous improvement across our port system,” said Indiana Gov. Eric J. Holcomb.
Port Canaveral in Florida also received Green Marine certification for a second time and was selected for “advancing environmental excellence in maritime transportation and demonstrating green corporate leadership.”
Port CEO John Murray said, “Port Canaveral is raising the bar in the maritime industry’s commitment to best environmental practices. Green Marine certification is more than a one-time achievement and involves responsibility for the implementation of long-term sustainable environmental goals.”
David Bolduc, executive director of Green Marine, said Port Canaveral “is showing, once again, results beyond compliance for all applicable indicators and even reaches the highest level, 5, for spill prevention indicator, demonstrating excellence and leadership.”
Fernando León Rodríguez, subdirector of Bajo Cero Frigoríficos, was named the recipient of the fourth-annual Global NextGen Award at the 2019 Global Cold Chain Expo in Chicago Tuesday.
The Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA) award recognizes outstanding young professionals in the world’s cold chain industry. Rodríguez represented Latin America as the winner of the 2018 GCCA Latin America Future Leader Award.
“The GCCA Global NextGen Award acknowledges talented young professionals who have the potential to become future leaders and make a positive contribution to the development of the global temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics industry,” said Don Dick, president of Dick Cold Storage and chairman of the World Food Logistics Organization.
Candidates were nominated by national refrigerated warehousing organizations to compete for the global award at the Global Cold Chain Expo.
Winners of the Western region America’s Transportation Awards competition were announced Wednesday.
Winners included the California Department of Transportation for the Interstate 880 safety and operational improvements at 23rd and 29th avenues and Highway 1/Mud Creek emergency restoration; Nebraska DOT for its maintenance decision support and automatic vehicle location project; South Dakota DOT for Interstate 90 exit 14; Texas DOT for U.S. 290 reconstruction from I-610 to Beltway 8; and the Washington State DOT for SR 500 safety improvements from 42nd to 54th avenues and phases 1 and 2A of the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East project.
“For 12 years, the America’s Transportation Awards have recognized state DOT projects for making communities safer, less congested and better connected,” said Carlos Braceras, executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) 2018-19 president.
The three highest-scoring projects from each of four regional competitions will vie for the grand prize, which will be announced Oct. 7 at the AASHTO annual meeting in St. Louis.
