( LEFT ) President and CEO of Scotiabank Jamaica, William Clarke ( at left), shares a joke with Transport Minister Robert Pickersgill at the Shipping Industry Awards Dinner and Cabaret Show, held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston, on Tuesday, September 27.( RIGHT )Paula Pinnock (left) presents Red Stripe's Grace Silvera with the Port Bustamante User of the Year (export) award at the Shipping Industry Awards Dinner and Cabaret Show, held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston, on Tuesday, September 27.
WITH ALL this talk about ships, it was a wonder nobody got seasick.
Scotiabank hosted the Shipping Industry Awards Dinner at the Jamaica Pegasus on Tuesday. It was bound to be a glittering affair with elegantly dressed ushers waiting to escort you for cocktails on the 17th floor.
Then it was back down to the Grand Jamaica Suite for wonderful music and fine food. The decor was magnificent with old sailing ships and lighthouses in sand bowls as the centrepieces. The entertainment was first rate as 50/50 band did their familiar routine, Robby Robinson on lead vocals.
But the musical concoction got sweeter with a dash of Karen Smith. Whether she was Dreaming Of A New Jamaica or telling the gentlemen How Glad I Am, she 'went to sea' with her performance. She then 'rocked the boat' by serenading Noel Hylton, the Lifetime Achievement Awardee for the night, with a version of My Way that the Prime Minister would have loved.
Members of the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI) were also cheering a quarter-century at the awards dinner. Captain Michael DeLisser made presentations to individuals, some of whom had been instrumental in not just the running of the CMI, but the very creation of it.
In a function that saw William Clarke and Oliver Clarke, major sponsor and MC respectively, in attendance, the 'big man' of the night was Noel Hylton. After he received his citation and watched the video presentation, Mr. Hylton seemed genuinely at a loss for words.
"The work we have done is not by one person," he immediately pointed out, thanking all those in attendance for their support, including Transport Minister Robert Pickersgill. He proudly stated that Kingston's port was ranked 53rd out of the top 100 ports and that four of the top five shipping lines come here.
His vision for the port?
"To see containers from Marcus Garvey Drive to Fort Augustus," he said, and the applause was loud. He expressed confidence that this was soon coming.
And so with the evening at an end, guests 'shoved off' for the evening sail home.
