A drinks company, a contact lenses firm and a recyling business were among the winners at the Irish Exporters Association's export industry awards gala dinner last night in Dublin.
Drinks group Diageo won the Multinational Exporter of the Year award for 2012.
From Dublin, Diageo provides Guinness and other beer products to 150 countries and about 70% of its output is exported. This amounted to over €770m worth of product last year.
The president of the Irish Exporters Association, Colin Lawlor, said that Diageo had once again shown that large well established companies can innovate and continue to expand on international markets despite the global economic turmoil.
Stena Line received the Short Sea Shipping company of the year award last night. Mr Lawlor said he was very heartened by Stena's ''fully committed services offering to Irish based exporters'' and was confident this would assist Ireland's export-led recovery.
Hapag-Lloyd received the Deep Sea Shipping Company of the year award last night. It is the fifth biggest global container carrier. In Ireland, it is the market leader to North America as well as having established markets in South and Central America, Africa, Australia, the Middle East and East Asia.
Donegal's Errigal Seafood was awarded the IEA's Seafood exporter of the year award. The company is Ireland's biggest seafood processor and exporter of shellfish productions with annual turnover of €26m. It sells to 13 countries and all of its production is exported.
Co Wicklow-based Megazyme International picked up the Innovation Exporter of the year award last night. The firm develops, manufactures and sells diagnostic test kits and reagents for quality management in the cereals, food, wine and bio-fuels industries and it currently exports to over 60 countries.
Wellman International won the Sustainable Exporter of the year award for its excellence in reshaping the company into a sustainable role model. The company uses recyled plastic bottles as a raw material for producers of a large range of products including home furnishings and personal hygiene.
The IEA's Services Exporter of the year award was won by Associated Marketing, who offer a service specifically designed to help Irish manufacturing businesses to grow their exports. It has offices in South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Australia.
DB Schenker won the Logistics company of the year award last night. The company is a logistics services provider to many of the country's largest exporters and has offices in Cork, Shannon and Dublin. Its biggest markets are the US, China, Hong Kong, Turkey and Israel.
Bausch & Lomb won the IEA's Life Sciences Exporter of the year award. The gala dinner heard last night that Ireland is the second largest exporter of contract lenses in the world - the product line that the company excel in. Bausch & Lomb's products are exported to over 100 countries and the company now employs over 1,100 people in Waterford.
