The YEA is a joint initiative between Nor-Shipping and YoungShip International. Conceived to shine a spotlight on emerging international maritime talent and solutions, entrants must demonstrate an ability to turn challenges into business opportunities, create jobs, enhance efficiency, adopt best practices, and address sustainability issues.
Youth is also a prerequisite, with all nominees under the age of 40.
Nijst fought it out with a strong competing field for the award, eventually triumphing against a shortlist that included André Risholm, Founder & CEO, Amon Maritime, Cristina Aleixendri, COO, Bound 4 Blue, and Maria Waagsnes, CEO, Norsjór.
A statement from the jury noted: “Christiaan Nijst established Value Maritime around four years ago. He has a background in petrochemical engineering and used to work at Shell. Christiaan and his co-founder saw the need to make the shipping industry more sustainable, but believed that this can only be done when there is a financial business case behind it.
“With his engineering background, Christiaan Nijst engineered the breakthrough Filtree System, an Exhaust Gas Cleaning System for the maritime industry. The system is based on a compact, patented and unique technology and filters sulphur as well as (ultra-fine) particular matter out of the exhaust, while making sure that the wash water used is filtered and neutralized before it is discharged.
“It is a stunning innovation that has come to life as a result of Christian’s unique vision, industry and technical understanding, and ambition. He is a worthy winner of this year’s Nor-Shipping Young Entrepreneur Award.”
