l to r: Chr. Christoforou, L. Chahalis, G. Sarris, A. Angelopoulos, J. Kokarakis
The Marine Technical Committee meeting of Bureau Veritas for 2014 took place on November 13th at the Yacht Club of Greece. The well-attended meeting started as always with social time, where attendees had the chance to exchange their views and latest news from the shipping world.
The technical presentation was introduced by the Committee’s Chairman Mr. George Sarris, President of Enterprises Shipping & Trading S.A.
Mr. Anastasios Angelopoulos, Deputy Country Chief Executive for Greece & Cyprus, Secretary of the Committee started with a brief presentation regarding the organisation of Bureau Veritas.
The technical discussion started with Dr. John Kokarakis, Vice President Technology & Business Development of Hellenic, Black Sea Region & Middle East Zone, presenting the challenges associated with utilisation of ultra-low sulphur fuel in the ECAs. This regulation dictates use of 0.1% sulphur content in the ECAs starting January 2015. The introduction by Dr Kokarakis outlined the problems and was followed by a lively workshop-style exchange of ideas, and input from the participants.
l to r: V. Sarris, Th. Baltatzis, J. Ioannidis, H. Giantzikis, A. Angelopoulos, D. Vitzileos, M. Migadis, J. Kokarakis, G. Papagiannopoulos
Ballast water treatment was also discussed, being one of the spiky issues in the shipping industry. Ratification of the convention is imminent and the shipping community is hard pressed to select and install treatment systems relevant to individual cases. Unfortunately, regulatory uncertainty makes these tasks very difficult. Bureau Veritas is currently preparing to tackle the expected flood of oncoming technical work.
As always the meeting closed with the traditional dinner, where there were ample opportunities for everybody to fraternise and enjoy delicious food offered by the restaurant of the Yacht Club of Greece.
