Maarten Van der Straeten, a Supply Chain Management student at the Karel de Grote Hogeschool in Antwerp, won the PSA Award 2023 on 22 June. He was able to convince both the jury and the public with his undergraduate thesis 'Closing problems'. For the second year in a row, the award ceremony took place aboard the Flandria boat 'Festina Lente'. 

"Young people are the future, also within our maritime and logistics world," points out Jan Diels, Manager Talent Acquisition at PSA Antwerp. "With the PSA Award, we as a company want to show, on the one hand, that we believe in their potential and, on the other, take the opportunity to introduce our company to them. And of course we prefer to do this on the water and in the vicinity of our terminals. The quality of the undergraduate tests already inspires us with confidence for the future."

PSA Award 2023

The PSA Award has been presented to final-year Bachelor Supply Chain Management students at the Karel de Grote Hogeschool in Antwerp since the 1970s. In a first phase, the best bachelor's theses are selected by professors of the college. Then it is up to the jury (consisting of lecturers from the college and PSA staff) to choose the best bachelor's thesis. It was Paul Sauviller who won the PSA Award for the first time in 1970 (then the North Nation Laureates' Prize). 51 years later, he is succeeded by Maarten Van der Straeten. "This is obviously a great conclusion to my internship at container shipping company MSC," Van der Straeten said. "I am therefore very grateful to both MSC and PSA for this great day and of course the award."

In his thesis, Maarten investigates the causes and consequences of the 'closing problem' in regular container shipping by means of a data analysis. This analysis was carried out as a result of his project internship at MSC.

For the second year in a row, the award ceremony took place on board the Flandria boat 'Festina Lente'. During the cruise, a selection of final-year Bachelor Logistics Management students from the Karel de Grote Hogeschool in Antwerp were given the opportunity to present their bachelor thesis to the jury. Five laureates (Tibo Jespers, Jasper Minnen, Farah Qoraichi, Quiten Suykerbuyk and Maarten Van der Straeten) competed for the PSA Award. The Festina took the PSA students, lecturers and judges on a tour of the Europa Terminal, the North Sea Terminal and MPET (MSC PSA European Terminal).

Head of education Katleen De Naeyer of the Karel de Grote Hogeschool: "We are very pleased with the cooperation with PSA, which is a major player in the port of Antwerp. The PSA Award is a particularly nice way for our students to conclude their education. An undergraduate thesis also means taking a moment to reflect on what they have learned and every year it produces gems."

PSA Antwerp would like to warmly congratulate all the laureates and the winner. Here's to the next edition of the PSA Award!

ATS Award 2023

As is tradition, ATS once again presented its annual award for the best final project in the field of Marine and Port Technologies at GTI Beveren. On Monday, June 19, the five finalists — Victor Verswyvel, Quino Persoon, Mathias Verheyden, Lode Van Raemdonck, and Tim Hertens — visited MPET to present their final projects to a jury of ATS staff members. The scores were very close, but it was Quino Persoon who took home the award for his project on the forklift 'Svetruck 1260-30'. In addition to delivering an excellent presentation, Quino impressed the jury with his answers during the technical Q&A session.
 

We wish all students the best of luck as they complete the final stretch of the school year and work toward earning their diplomas. Our thanks go to KdG University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Antwerp and GTI Beveren for another great collaboration, as well as to the jury members for their expert evaluations of the final projects and bachelor theses.

And of course, a big congratulations to Maarten and Quino! On to the next editions of the PSA Award and the ATS Award!