Mr Slater was recognised today for his work in establishing a chaplaincy within the Port to provide pastoral care for its community – those permanently based in Dover and the crews and passengers of ships visiting from across the globe.

He was presented with the Meritorious Service Award by the Port’s Chief Executive Tim Waggott in the presence of industry leaders who had travelled to Dover from around the UK to attend the annual British Ports Association conference.

Mr Waggott said: “The Meritorious Service Award is only given to a selected few who have made an extraordinary contribution to the Port.

“The support David has given to me personally, to my team and to the Port and its many stakeholders has been exceptional, and I can think of no better way of thanking him than making him a recipient of our flagship award.

”David’s work and that of the wider port chaplaincy team is entirely voluntary and that contribution should rightly be recognised.”

Although supported by Kent Workplace Mission and Christians Together in Dover, the Port of Dover chaplaincy team provides support to people of all or no Faith, and does not restrict its service to spiritual matters.

Mr Slater said: “Workplace chaplaincy is based on the value that every person matters and is worthy of support for their emotional, physical and spiritual well-being.

“People who feel valued and listened to are more likely to achieve higher standards, see value in what they are doing, and add worth to their place of work as well as to their colleagues’ self esteem and their own.

“I am humbled and honoured to receive this award, which recognises the wider, important role that workplace chaplaincy plays.”

The citation for Mr Slater’s award reads: “For establishing chaplaincy at the Port of Dover, for bringing welfare to the fore in many outside forums and personally providing consistent and caring non-judgemental one to one support to stakeholders, at individual and corporate levels, across the Port, from directors to deckhands and cleaners to clients.”

Mr Waggott, who was hosting the BPA conference on board the cruise ship MV Marco Polo in Dover’s Western Docks, said Mr Slater is just one of a select few to have received the prestigious award.