MUIR Engineering, a manufacturer of boat anchoring systems that exports to more than 40 countries, has won a series of prestigious awards in recent weeks.

From left Matthew Johnston, Muir’s general manager, John Muir, managing director and Ian Stocks Muir’s production manager proudly display the Telstra business award.

The company was the overall winner of the 17th annual Tasmania Telstra business awards announced in Hobart recently, and also the Panasonic Australia medium business award.

The company was also recognised in the inaugural Australian Marine Industry export awards, presented by the Australian International Marine Export Group (AIMEX), in two categories - winner of the best marine industry export performance award and highly commended in the marine industry export champion award.

Managing director John Muir said the company had consistently increased and grown export markets over the past decade and intended to continue this trend well into the future.

“As well as warehousing and sales offices in Australia, we also have a very strong distributor network in more than 70 countries to overcome our geographical isolation,” Mr Muir said.

“We tend to over-engineer our product range, which is why we are lucky enough to supply some of the best boat building yards in both Australia and overseas.

“These companies include Austal Ships (Aus), Riviera (Aus), International Marine (Aus), Trinity Yachts (USA), Feadship (Netherlands), Lurssen (Germany), Sunseeker Yachts (UK), Maritimo (Aus) and International Marine (Aus).”

Telstra Country Wide group managing director Brett Riley said Mr Muir had turned his love of boats into a world-class engineering business.

“The son of Jock Muir, one of Australia’s best yachtsmen and boat builders in the 1940s, sailing was always in John’s blood,” Mr Riley said.

“But he has turned his passion into a Hobart-based 21st century global export business through research and development, high technology manufacturing, and strategic alliances enabling them to supply equipment to the world’s leading boat builders.”

Mr Riley said the judges were impressed with the way Muir Engineering had captured the mega yacht market.

“Muir’s range of anchoring and mooring systems are not only functional, but also aesthetically pleasing, giving them entry into the larger European mega-winch markets, such as Germany and The Netherlands where some of the world’s finest mega yachts are built,” Mr Riley said.

The Telstra business award judges said Muir Engineering’s penetration into global export markets was one of the factors that made Muir Engineering stand out.

AIMEX judges were impressed by the high calibre and broad range of businesses that entered the awards.

AIMEX chief executive MaryAnne Edwards said: “The number and calibre of entries and the strong sponsorship support these inaugural awards attracted is testament to the high profile and credibility that AIMEX has achieved within the marine export sector.”