Seafarers UK has been named as the charity partner for the second iteration of the Maritime UK Awards, due to be broadcast live from Plymouth, Britain’s Ocean City, on Thursday 12 November from 17:00.

The Maritime UK Awards, first hosted in Southampton in 2019, are the UK’s national maritime awards, organised by industry, for industry. The event aims to celebrate the achievements of businesses and organisations throughout the maritime sector.

Seafarers UK has been playing a key part in helping people in the maritime community for over 100 years, and is committed to providing support to seafarers throughout their careers: from considering a career at sea, working at sea, managing relationships at home, adapting to seagoing life, coming ashore and during retirement.

The need for this kind of support has become especially apparent during the outbreak of Covid-19, as international travel restrictions and health regulations have made the lives of professional seafarers increasingly difficult. The charity has worked to support seafarers across the world facing difficulties related to crew changes and long stints on board vessels.

An important aspect of this year’s Maritime UK Awards, in addition to celebrating the achievements of the maritime sector, will be highlighting the vital efforts of maritime key workers including seafarers throughout the ongoing pandemic. 95% of UK exports and imports are transported by sea, and the sector has played a vital role in keeping trade flowing and the country supplied with goods such as food and medicines.

The UK’s maritime sector contributes £46.1 billion to the economy every year and supports 1.1 million jobs.

Those involved in the 2020 Maritime UK Awards will be encouraged to contribute to the work of Seafarers UK, and donations can be made online.

The 2020 Maritime UK Awards will be broadcast from Plymouth on 12 November and will see winners named in 14 categories. Registrations for the virtual event have now opened.

Catherine Spencer, CEO at Seafarers UK said: ‘Earlier this year Seafarers UK released £2 million to support seafarers through the Covid-19 crisis. To keep creating innovative and dynamic solutions and unique services that seafarers require we need support from the maritime industry. Please get in touch with Seafarers UK to work with us as we develop an exciting new strategy to get to the root of seafarer issues.’

Ben Murray, Director at Maritime UK added: ‘We are proud to once again be working with Seafarers UK as our charity partner for the Maritime UK Awards, to recognise and highlight the work they have done and continue to do for seafarers and other key workers throughout the pandemic. This work is especially important in such challenging times, and we hope that we are able to encourage those tuning in to watch the 2020 Maritime UK Awards to contribute to making this work possible going forward.’