Central support role

摘要

The pandemic meant 2020 was 'probably one of the toughest years ever for both shipping and classification societies,' believes Matthieu de Tugny, president of Bureau Veritas, Marine & Offshore. But the maritime industry has shown 'good resilience,' he adds, which is just as well since 'without shipping we can't do anything.'The plight of seafarers has clearly been the main priority, he continues, and BV was one of the class societies to become an early signatory to the Neptune Declaration on seafarer welfare. With a classed fleet of over 11,400 vessels of all types - some 9,761 of which are self-propelled of 100gt and over, the IACS definition of a ship - BV is the leading class society by number of ships and hence of crews as well.Also, a leading testing, inspection and certification body, BV moved quickly to offer bio-security assistance to its clients, not only to contain COVID-19 but 'to prepare for and prevent the next pandemic,' de Tugny relates. It initially introduced a SafeGuard label for clients having attained demonstrable standards of safety and hygiene, as well as Restart Your Business (RYB) advice, and in February this year followed up with a new BIORISK notation intended both to protect seafarers on board and provide confidence to others over the safe conduct of crew changes and transit.