The 21st Annual Meeting of the Hellenic and Black Sea Committee of Bureau Veritas, hosted by the Vice President Regional Chief Executive Hellenic & Black Sea Region, Mrs. Paillette Palaiologou, was held on the 18th of May 2018 under the Chairmanship of Mr. George Procopiou and the presence of the Bureau Veritas Top Management, namely Mr. Philippe Donche-Gay, President Marine & Offshore Division – Deputy CEO Bureau Veritas Group, Mr. Matthieu De Tugny, Chief Operations Officer Bureau Veritas M&O Division, Mr. Didier Bouttier, Senior Vice President M&O Division SEMEA Zone, Mr. Jean-François Segretain, Technical Director M&O Division, Mr. Nick Brown, Communications Director, Dr. John Kokarakis, Technology & Business Development Director M&O Division, Mr. George Andreadis, Marine Manager, Mr. Bill Stamatopoulos, Business Development Manager SE Europe–Marine Fuel Services & Mr. Michael Sterghiou, Director SE Europe Bureau Veritas Commodities .
This year the Committee took place at the Grand Resort Lagonissi in Athens.
Following the welcome and adoption of the agenda by the Committee’s Chairman, Mr. George Procopiou, a distinguished colleague of shipping, Mr. George A. Papagiannopoulos, Principal of Common Progress Compania Naviera S.A., was introduced as new member.
Mr. Philippe Donche-Gay opened the round of presentations with a critical review on the Bureau Veritas Group’s Corporate & Marine Activities & Results for 2017.
Subsequently, Mr. Jean- François Segretain made a presentation on the innovations in shipping today & focused on understanding risk, finding opportunity & CYBER challenges.
Mr. Tony Lauritzen, CEO of Dynagas Ltd, made a very interesting presentation on the LNG market, bringing about some rather interesting issues regarding current trends and future opportunities.
The presentation by Mr. Matthieu De Tugny focused on the current environmental issues, technical practice and propulsion options, with a report on BV’s successful activities in LNG as fuel as well as a look into the future.
Mr. Bill Stamatopoulos presented the various options to comply with the IMO 2020 global sulphur cap regulation. He explained the characteristics and the challenges associated with a variety of fuels.
The presentation by Dr. John Kokarakis dealt with the future challenge on the shipping industry, the decarbonization. He presented the recently unveiled IMO strategy, measures to achieve it as well as alternative fuels and sources of energy.
The meeting was concluded with the traditional heated discussion between the members on topics of evolving interest, and the social time during the lunch at the beautiful resort.-