RINA, a world leader in marine services such as classification and certification, recently opened a new office in the heart of HafenCity, in Hamburg on 22 February.
Led by Massimo Volta, General Manager Europe, RINA Services, the new office will continue to service foreign clients and use the expansion to support its ever-growing portfolio of German and North European clients.
Since the opening of its marine office in Hamburg over 10 years ago, RINA has serviced ships calling at German ports and the German marine equipment manufacturers. Today, the Group is able to provide enhanced marine services and business assurance certification besides consulting engineering, all of which are already appreciated by German and North European major companies.
RINA has grown its German classed fleet to 75 ships, accounting for nearly 2,000,000 GT and has an order book of 10 ships accounting for a further 1,500,000 GT, among which are the first ever LNG powered cruise ships for Carnival built by Meyer Werft. We plan to increase our German classed fleet by a further 25% in 2016 and expand our manufacturer portfolio well beyond the 500 clients served so far in Germany. We have a simple ambition: to make RINA a reference partner for the German market said Massimo Volta, General Manager Europe, RINA Services.
Ugo Salerno, CEO and Chairman, RINA continued, We have already invested significantly in the German market and will continue to invest year by year, both in competencies and in our teams. This will ensure that we can provide the highly technical, competent support that our clients expect, as we expand here and internationally. With several of our key customers expanding in the region, we saw the importance of consolidating our expertise in Germany and demonstrating our continued commitment to this market.
In Germany, RINA has recently strengthened its Plan Approval Centre and launched a brand new Business Assurance office that has hired four local team members in the last two months. This has allowed RINA to support its German clients with new specialist expertise, including Asset Integrity Management and Technology Qualification.
The office will cover two floors of the Coffee Plaza Tower and will accommodate a team that has tripled in the last five years to 30 people, who will be led by highly skilled German and Italian managers. Over the next year in the region, RINA plans to launch a brand new Centre of Competence for software and digital supporting tools, strengthen its Passenger Ship Centre of Excellence and Container Ship Centre of Expertise, add specific competence on Mega-Yachts and further develop its Business Assurance Network.