Gerard Petrelluzzi (59) of Guadeloupe was honored by the French government earlier this year with the Maritime Merit Medal, a high distinction in the French maritime industry. Petrelluzzi is well known in the cruise industry, working as a shipping agent and a promoter of cruising out of Pointe-a-Pitre. Among his accomplishments, he brought Regency Cruises to Marie Galante for the first time. He also developed calls at Les Saintes, and at Deshaies, where no ships had called before, with the Club Med 2. Petrelluzzi has been a member of the Guadeloupe Tourism Office since 1980 and was president of the Guadeloupe Shipping Association from 1986 until 1994, and is today an honorary member of the L’Union Maritime et Portuaire.

In shipping all his life, Petrelluzzi can trace his ancestry back to the arrival of Captain Leopoldo Petrelluzzi in Guadeloupe in 1896, arriving on a three-masted tall ship, named the Leopoldo. The captain settled in Guadeloupe and later started Agence Petrelluzzi, which has since been passed from generation to generation. Gerard Petrelluzzi joined the company in 1980 and worked in operations, sales and the cruise department.

In 1994, Agence Petrelluzzi was sold to the Delmas Group, and Petrelluzzi founded SGCM, a new shipping agency and stevedoring company, with Delmas as cofounder. He is still working at SGCM as its sales manager.