Pictured: Talente Ngema, winner of the Maritime Student of the Year award presented to him by SAMSA CEO, Tsietsi Mokhele.

Shipping line Safmarine received the South African Maritime Industry’s ‘Commitment to CSI’ Award for its pioneering Containers-in-the-Community programme which uses decommissioned shipping containers for community development purposes.

The award recognises the efforts of those within the maritime sector who reach beyond their own structures to uplift, empower and skill fellow South African citizens.

Safmarine South Africa’s Patricia Simons  says, “This award goes to the many customers, Safmarine staff and A.P Moller-Maersk Group companies who have contributed time, money and energy to support our community projects in their own and very meaningful way.

“Not only have these partnerships allowed Safmarine to deliver on its promise of being the ‘people making the difference’, but together we have been able to positively impact the lives of many communities.”

For the past two decades, Safmarine has assisted community-based organisations who have identified shipping containers as a quick, sustainable solution to their infrastructural needs, by providing over 8000 shipping containers for projects ranging from job creation to crèches, adult education centres and schools.

In addition to its container projects, Safmarine has also been a supporter, for the past 18 years, of the Lawhill Maritime Centre in Simon’s Town, a facility that provides maritime education and skills to young South Africans while they are still at school.  Talente Ngema, who matriculated from Lawhill in 2012 with seven distinctions, received the award for Maritime Student of the Year at the awards function on Saturday, while Captain Okke Grapouw, a former Safmariner of 23 years, was recognised as the Maritime Maestro for his lifelong contribution to the South African shipping industry.