DNV GL is making waves on the Greek shipping market, as the strategy set forth a year ago, to make Greece its third “home” market, besides its two main ones, i.e. Norway and Germany, has started to pay dividends. Already, during 2016, the leading classification society has managed to increase its market share in the local market, receiving very positive feedback in the process of doing so from the local shipping community. In a press event held in Piraeus, company executives noted that the number of Greek-owned ships classed with DNV GL has risen by almost 7% from 704 to 748 in the space of 12 months. This translates to a market share of 16% of the Greek shipping market, versus 15.2% during the same period of last year. Additionally, it was also mentioned that there are currently 62 more Greek newbuildings soon to be added to the class, bar any slippages, delays and cancellations. The company is aiming for a 20% market share by 2020.
In a DNV GL presentation it was said that, among others, the plan set forth 12 months ago was to establish and develop more services and operations from the Piraeus office, assign more responsibilities in the Greek market and develop a network of Greek speaking employees globally, in order to facilitate interaction with Greek ship owners. Over the course of the past 12 months, the local DNV GL offices in Piraeus have been reinforced with a total of 18 more employees, out of which about half were new hires, with the remaining coming from other regions within the group.
The company has now assigned separate directors for tankers and bulkers active in the Greek market, it has strengthened customers’ support and marketing team in Piraeus, it has enhanced cooperation with newbuilding locations (Korea and China), it is performing monitoring of all second hand S&P and is also brick walling existing customers. Moreover, it has established the service of DATE in Piraeus [Direct Access to Technical Experts]. This means that customers are receiving support and solutions within 24 or 4 hours, with competence in class systematics, SOLAS, MARPOL, machinery and a personal touch, throughout the whole process.
These changes have been yielding results, as from the new ship additions, many were resales, i.e. ships bought from Greek owners, already classed with DNV GL, which the new owner decided to retain. “We are very competitive in the Greek market and shouldn’t be seen like the expensive class option of the past” said Mr. George Teriakidis, Regional Business Development Manager for DNV GL. Besides the level of expertise and fast response to client inquiries, one of the main goals for the company was to install more Greek element to the local offices. This has been achieved already and has been receiving very positive reaction.
The timing couldn’t be better, as the global shipping industry is bound to face a series of rule changes and more regulations moving forward, starting from the implementation of the Ballast Water Management Convention. According to local executives a total of 5,700 plans for BMW will have to be certified by DNV GL, with 1,000 of them coming from the Mediterranean region. In fact, some Greek owners have already started this process of retrofitting. However, DNV GL’s people think that the current deadline of the 8th of September 2017 to meet demands of the BMW convention is near impossible to meet on a global scale and will probably need to be revised by the IMO.
Meanwhile, DNV GL is working for the MRV process of monitoring shipping emissions from all ships (over 5,000 tons) entering EU ports, with the European Parliament including shipping in the latest vote approval implemented this past week. In fact, the company is developing tools which will automatize he yearly ratification process. It is estimated that 4,000 DNV GL-classed ships will need to be measured, with 600 of them located in the Mediterranean region. As such, 2017 is bound to be quite a busy year for DNV GL’s people in Piraeus, as they will be looking to build upon the new foundations laid and gain further market share.
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Source: DNV GL
