UK: Westmark’s P-TRAP Wins Safety at Sea International Award

Westmark BV, creator of P-Trap®, was named winner in the Security category at the 5^th annual Safety at Sea International Awards held recently on board the historic warship HMS Belfast in London.

The company was recognized for its anti-piracy device, which creates a propeller jamming zone around the vessel to prevent pirates from getting close enough to board during an attempted hijacking.

Westmark’s P-Trap® was one of three nominees in the Security category, competing against Applied Weather Technology’s Globalview Fleet Management System, and VSTEP’s Port Security Awareness Training program. The security category was sponsored by the Nautical Institute.

Six awards were handed out in total by Sir Alan Massey, Chief Executive Officer of the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). The awards were made by an independent judging panel of experts in the category of equipment, management /operations, security, systems and training.

Safety at Sea International has been the world’s only dedicated maritime safety magazine for more than four decades and the awards are held annually to celebrate the role that safety managers and manufacturers play in saving and protecting life at sea across the international maritime safety market. The magazine is published by IHS Fairplay.

This is the second maritime innovations award recognition that P-Trap® has received this year. In April, P-Trap® was named finalist in the Safety at Sea category by the Seatrade Awards. “We are delighted to see that the industry is recognizing the P-Trap® as a product that offers a credible layer of defense against pirates,” said Lodewijk Westerbeek van Eerten, inventor of the P-Trap®.  “The system adds to the hardening of a vessel and, most importantly, gives crew members extra confidence in their protection and peace of mind that extends to their families at home as well.”

Coincidentally,  while the Safety at Sea International Awards ceremony was taking place, the Dutch Minister Hillen of Defense, Minister Rosenthal of Foreign Affairs and Minister Opstelten of Security & Justice were in debate within the Dutch Cabinet about the fight against piracy.  The meeting focused on strategic governmental policy to defend and protect against pirate attacks.  Inadvertently, it can be concluded that the problem of piracy is one that can only be resolved by means of a joint effort between international governments and the maritime industry itself.

The P-Trap® is a passive non-lethal protection measure against pirates. It was introduced to the international shipping community last year. Today, multiple shipping companies are using the product while transiting through pirate infested regions. Dockwise, a world leader in heavy marine transport, was the first company to test a prototype of the system and has expanded the use of the P-Trap® anti-piracy product to its entire fleet of heavy cargo vessels.
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Source: ptrap, June 29, 2011;