Maarten Van der Straeten, a Supply Chain Management student at the Karel de Grote Hogeschool (KdG) 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’.
Traditionally, since 1971 – on the initiative of Edwig Vancraenem, who founded the ‘Shipping and Forwarding’ department at the then ‘Sint-Lodewijk’ in 1968 – several students have been selected to compete for the annual PSA Award. The jury comprised representatives of terminal operator PSA and KdG Hogeschool.
For the second year in a row, the presentation of the PSA Award took place aboard the Flandria boat ‘Festina Lente’, which toured the Europa Terminal, the Noordzee Terminal and MPET in the port of Antwerp.
Data analysis
In his thesis, Maarten Van der Straeten (sixth from left in the photo) investigated the causes and consequences of the ‘closing problem’ in regular container shipping through data analysis. That analysis was carried out as a result of his project internship with the container shipping company MSC. “This is a great conclusion to my internship at MSC,” says Van der Straeten. “I am therefore very grateful to both MSC, my supervisor and PSA for the award and this great day.”
Van der Straeten competed against laureates Tibo Jespers, Jasper Minnen, Farah Qoraichi and Quiten Suykerbuyk. In 2022, Enno Smout was the recipient of PSA and KdG’s annual thesis prize.
Pearls
KdG head of education Katleen De Naeyer: “We are very pleased with the cooperation with PSA, one of the biggest players in the port of Antwerp. The PSA Award is a particularly nice way for our students to conclude their education. A Bachelor’s thesis also means taking a moment to reflect on what they have learned, and each year produces new gems. We are already looking forward to the next edition of the PSA Award.”
