Aiming to strengthen its relationships and forge new opportunities for co-operation ClassNK, one of the leading classification societies in the world celebrated its 50th anniversary of Piraeus office.
In his opening speech Hayato Suga, President & CEO of ClassNK said that: “The Piraeus Office was established in 1975 as one of ClassNK’s earliest overseas offices, dedicated to serving our important clients, Greek shipping companies.
As the Greek fleet grew significantly over the years, ClassNK was fortunate to grow alongside it. Today, Greek-owned vessels account for more than 14% of our registered fleet in gross tonnage, making Greece our largest shipowning nation outside of Japan.
We, however, should remind most important things behind this achievement. They are trust, confidence, and friendship with Greek shipping industries which are built up in longstanding cooperations. So, Greece is our second home.
To further enhanced relations with technical activities, in this milestone year, I’m pleased to announce the establishment of the Tech Expertise Center in our Piraeus Office.
This center serves not only as a local support hub but also as a key part of our global operations, reflecting our enduring commitment to the industries including GHG issues / Zero emission transition, digitalization, and cutting-edge R&D so on. Though our center just started with small team, our experts in the center who have been selected for this special purpose must contribute to your further challenges as well as the fundamental issues.
Looking ahead, the next 50 years will bring more remarkable changes to the maritime industry as you can imagine.
In this evolving environment, ClassNK’s mission remains to provide third-party certification services for coming requests in timely manner but we are sure also to contribute the industry in comprehensive services ensuring healthy and sustainable operation by our partners”.
He concluded by extending his gratitude for the longstanding support and confidence in ClassNK.
ClassNK Piraeus office created a video especially for this celebration, a small reflection of its long and valued journey.
The celebration was concluded by performing the “Kagami Barike”, a the traditional Japanese ceremony that involves breaking of the lid of a sake barrel, a practice to usher in good luck and harmony.
The ceremony was performed by Koichi Ito, Ambassador of Japan to the Hellenic Republic, Michael Scufalos, Chairman of ClassNK Greek Committee, Hayato Suga, President and CEO of ClassNK and Nicholas Hadjiyiannis, Chairman of Classnk Greek Technical Committee.
ELNAVI Newsletter
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