The 32nd Hellenic Marine Technical Committee Meeting of Bureau Veritas Piraeus was held on the 18th November 2020 virtually for the first time, due to the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The meeting was hosted by Mr. George Andreadis, Marine Chief Executive of Bureau Veritas Greece and was chaired by the Committee Chairman, Mr. George Sarris, President and Managing Director of Enterprises Shipping & Trading S.A.
Over 30 members, primarily the Technical Directors of Greek Shipping Companies along with senior members of Bureau Veritas office in Greece, participated at the 32nd Bureau Veritas Hellenic Marine Technical Committee, that this year was held virtually as a result of the global situation.
The meeting commenced with the introduction of two new members, Mr. Evangelos Sfakiotakis, Chief Operating Officer of Pavimar S.A. and Mr. George Varinos, Managing Director of Century Bulk Carriers Management Co.
Mr. George Andreadis welcomed all the members and subsequently the presentations followed.
The round of presentations opened with Mr. Konstantinos Chatzitolios, Project Development Leader for Greece, Cyprus and Malta, who made a brief but thorough Regulatory update on the GHG Emissions, from ships, focusing on the forthcoming short term measures by the IMO.
Following the update on the IMO regulations, an analysis of the merits and demerits of various alternative fuels was presented by Dr. John Kokarakis,Technology & Business Development Director of Hellenic, Black Sea and Adriatic Zone Bureau Veritas. He analyzed in detail the "why's" and "why not" of each fuel in order to achieve the highest possible benefit. It became evident from the presentation that the future decarbonized society will be multifuel since there is no silver bullet. The presentations of Dr. Kokarakis raised the interest of the participants with a number of questions and rather insightful comments.
The second part of the meeting commenced with Mr. Vassilis Dimoulas, Technology and Innovation Manager for Greece, Cyprus and Malta who made a presentation on the concept of Digital Classification, current innovative project and service and Bureau Veritas ambition. The subject of Remote Surveys was addressed by Mr. George Andreadis who presented BV and BV Piraeus capabilities and lessons learned from experience so far.
Mr. Bill Stamatopoulos, Business Development Manager of South Europe Bureau Veritas Marine Fuel Services, who addressed the audience with the VeriFuel latest updates and experiences, conducted the final presentation. The transition to the new IMO 2020 regulation era was relatively smooth, but not without problems. As expected, it brought some teething issues both on the supply and operations side. On the supply side, the year started with 11% of the tested fuel samples marginally exceeding specification limits with 4% being off specification, primarily on sediments and sulphur. Now, 11 months in to 2020, less vessels report issues and the number of problems seems to be comparable to the situation pre-2020. Still, marine fuels are a by – product. It is important to emphasise that the industry should not grow complacent.
The meeting concluded with a lengthy and lively discussion further to questions that derived from the subjects presented during the meeting. Commenting, Mr. Andreadis stated “2020 has been a year of tremendous changes both in our working reality and our everyday life. The COVID-19 pandemic forced a new challenging reality upon us that we needed to face and adopt in. Bureau Veritas, having already the necessary “know-how” that led to the establishment of innovative procedures before the break out of the pandemic, adapted smoothly in the new reality. The Remote Survey Centers are active and fully functional around the world, manned with highly qualified experts. As a result, business continuity was ensured in all aspects of our activities, from remote surveys to remote operations in the office and even hosting our Committee this year virtually. Being by our clients’ side remains our first priority, regardless the challenges.”