Annual Anchor Awards to turn out Maritime Top Brass in Florida: Guyana’s President Serving as Patron
Boca Raton, Fl (October 10, 2022): The American Caribbean Maritime Foundation (ACMF) will host its Fifth Annual Gala and Anchor Awards ceremony on Friday, November 4, 2022 at the Coral Ridge Yacht Club in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in the presence of Dr. Irfaan Ali, President of The Republic of Guyana. The Distinguished Honoree is Eddie Gonzalez, President and CEO of Seaboard Marine.
“ACMF scholarships help students from the Caribbean region access many excellent career paths provided by ocean shipping. These students achieve their dreams of a productive and enjoyable future,” said Gala Chairman Rick Murrell, President and CEO Saltchuk Logistics. “Our 2022 gala theme, Educate. Inspire., represents the important work of the Foundation. It is with deep gratitude that we gather to celebrate ACMF scholars and the maritime community that supports them.”
The Presenting Sponsor is Kestrel Group. Other leading sponsors are Mr. and Mrs. Roland Malins Smith, Seaboard Marine, Saltchuk Family of Companies, Tropical Shipping, Seacor Island Lines, Kotug Seabulk Maritime, Kingston Wharves Limited, and Shipping Association of Barbados.
Maritime top brass, including Andy Thorne, CEO Kestrel Group, Jeff Fiser CEO Tropical Shipping, Mark Williams CEO and Jeff Hall, Chairman of Kingston Wharves Ltd, Charles Gittens CEO Seacor Island Lines, and Tim Martin VP Tropical, are only a few expected to attend the black-tie celebration. Executives from the Caribbean Shipping Association, Shipping Association of Barbados, Women in Caribbean Maritime (WiMAC) and ACMF Scholarship recipients from Jamaica and Guyana, will join the festivities.
“Our work in support of training future Guyanese mariners and maritime professionals, echoes what we do across the Caribbean region, and we are so delighted to be welcoming His Excellency, Guyana’s President, to this year’s Anchor Awards”, says ACMF President, Dr. Geneive Brown Metzger.
About the American Caribbean Maritime Foundation (ACMF)
The ACMF is a U.S. non-profit tax-exempt organization, and is the only entity dedicated to sponsoring academic scholarships and grants is a U.S. non-profit tax-exempt organization, and is the only entity solely dedicated to sponsoring academic scholarships and grants for aspiring Caribbean and CARICOM seafarers. The Foundation partners with four academic institutions within the CARICOM: Caribbean Maritime University in Jamaica; LJM Maritime Academy in The Bahamas; MatPal Marine Institute in Guyana; and the University of Trinidad and Tobago. To date, the AMCF has funded ninety-two full tuition scholarships and grants for students from Jamaica, Guyana, The Bahamas, Barbados, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic, Suriname, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. They have donated dozens of laptops to help students study remotely during the pandemic; funded emergency grants to students at risk of dropping out due to loss of family income during the pandemic; created an online jobs board (www.acmf-carex.com); and helped build a 100-person capacity Lecture Hall.
The ACMF also hosts an annual Caribbean regionwide webinar, the Maritime Link-Up Webinar, attended by hundreds of students to promote maritime careers. Under the leadership of Rick Murrell, President and CEO of Saltchuk, the ACMF’s sea-time initiative for cadets, identifies internship opportunities on vessels to enable cadets to achieve the last bit of training necessary before they can take up permanent jobs at sea.
About the Anchor Awards
The Anchor Awards gala is the seminal Caribbean-focused maritime gala celebration in Florida. We honor stalwarts of the industry and use the occasion to introduce, in person, some of our scholarship recipients and to share our accomplishments. Our donors are critical to achieving our mission to transform lives through maritime education. They include cargo and cruise lines, maritime trade associations, such as Arawak Port Development, DP World, Integra Marine, Seacor Island Marine, Tropical Shipping, TOTE Marine, Saltchuk Logistics, Royal Caribbean International, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Caribbean Shipping Association, and friends including Mr. and Mrs. Roland Malins-Smith.
Contact: Geneive Brown Metzger, LLD Hon., President
E-mail: executivedirector@acmfdn.org
Website: www.acmfdn.org
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