Meet the Finalists: Start-up of the Year Award

This week Maritime UK will be profiling each of the finalists in this year’s Maritime UK Awards. Winners will be announced on 12 November in an event live streamed from Plymouth. Registration is open here.

With shipping and maritime at the heart of their business for over 200 years, Norton Rose Fulbrightare delighted to be sponsoring the Start-up of the Year Award at the 2020 Maritime UK Awards, due to be broadcast live from Plymouth this Thursday.

To be eligible for the Start-up of the Year Award, finalists must have started trading no earlier than three years from the date of entry and need to be independently owned and operated. Judges will have been looking for great potential in the award recipient, which could be based on revenue growth, profitability and major client wins.

The winners will be announced at a live-streamed event broadcast across the world from Plymouth, Britain’s Ocean City on 12 November 2020 from 5pm.

Sponsors of the Start-up of the Year Award, Norton Rose Fulbright, are a global law firm and one of the largest in the world, both in terms of lawyers and revenue. Offering full business law services, Norton Rose Fulbright provides one of the leading legal practices in the transport sector, including shipping and maritime. In a time of fundamental change, Norton Rose is committed to highlighting new ideas and business ventures.

Simon Hartley, Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright said:

“This is a pivotal time for the global shipping and maritime industries. New business ventures, new innovation and new ideas will be key to the continued success of the United Kingdom as a great maritime nation.

“Shipping and the maritime sector are not only part of the history and heritage of the UK, but the economic life blood of this island nation. Excellence in all areas of the maritime sector should be celebrated."

Highly respected experts from a variety of businesses and government departments were involved in the judging panel for this year’s Maritime UK Awards, which celebrate the achievements of the UK’s maritime sector, which adds £46.1bn to the UK economy every year, and supports 1.1 million jobs.

Three start-ups have been shortlisted as finalists for the Start-up of the Year Award: Ultranbeam Hydrographic, Tanki and Tapiit Live.

Ultrabeam Hydrographic was formed in 2018 to provide an innovative approach to the marine asset survey and inspection market. The company’s growth and profit figures since its conception demonstrate rapid growth. The rapid growth of the offshore renewables sector accounts for the majority of sales. Ultrabeam Hydrographic have also recently been awarded an MoD contract to design, build and trial an amphibious river-crossing 3D-mapping vehicle with the aim of reducing military personnel required in hostile environments.

Tanki have developed a sustainably sourced, affordable, two-ply, quality toilet tissue which disperses on impact with water: the world’s only toilet paper legally compliant to discharge at sea under current maritime law. Created to solve an engineering problem, Tanki’s product is manufactured without the use of plastic and will not block any non-conventional sewage treatment facility such from ship-board processing tanks, providing an environmental solution to the discharge of waste. Tanki is a partnership of like-minded individuals who joined forces determined to make a positive change with a new enterprise.

TapiitLive started trading in 2019 and has built a large portfolio of training providers around the globe. Tapiit Live is the first company dedicated to maritime training via live streaming and has now signed an agreement with Inmarsat to have dedicated bandwidth access of the 45,000 vessels, providing a stable platform to deliver classroom-based training. By March 2020, Tapiit was active in more than 50 countries and had developed two studios delivering this live-streamed training.

Harry Theochari, Chair of Maritime UK, said:

“We’re delighted to announce the finalists for the Maritime UK Awards 2020. Across all fourteen categories we can see some genuinely world-beating products, services, and operators. The quality of entries this year is testament to the strength and commitment of our maritime sector to be world-class despite the most challenging of circumstances.”

Ben Murray, Director of Maritime UK, said:

“We were determined that these awards would go ahead, and in an ideal world would have been one of the first occasions at which colleagues from across the sector could come back together following COVID-19. With that not being possible due to new restrictions, we think it’s really important to celebrate the remarkable work that has been going on – in responding to COVID-19, and in spite of it – which sends a message of resilience and ambition.”

The 2020 Maritime UK Awards are hosted by Maritime UK South West and delivered by Plymouth City Council. Diamond Sponsors are the MLA College and the University of Plymouth.

Tickets to the live-streamed event are free and open to everyone. To register visit the official website.