PARAMARIBO, Suriname, July 13, 2023 Mervel Kotzebue-Fleur, General Manager of DP World Paramaribo, has been named winner of the 2023 Maritime Award of the Americas in the Outstanding Women in the Maritime and Port Sector category. The award recognizes "the leadership and dedication of an outstanding woman through significant achievements, as well as professional contributions for the development of the maritime and port sectors in the Americas."
By Dr. Ian Ralby
In the summer of 2020, the Port of Hamburg, Germany, had one of the largest drug busts in its history. On June 26, a container arrived in Hamburg carrying 1.5 tons of cocaine worth roughly $353 million USD. German authorities discovered the large quantity of trafficked narcotics hidden in sacks of rice destined for Poland. Almost every media report to date has talked about the fact that the vessel that carried these drugs into Hamburg was the Malta-flagged, French-owned CMA CGM Jean Gabriel, and almost every media report to date has noted that the sacks of rice containing the cocaine came from Guyana. Oddly, however, the