The first Open Seminar of RINA Academy Hellas for the year 2017, was delivered on 8 February, on-board “SS Liberty Hellas”, in Piraeus port. The seminar dealt with two important challenges that lie ahead for shipping, namely the Monitoring Reporting and Verification Regulation of European Commission (EU MRV Regulation) and the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments of IMO (The BWM Convention).

Mr. Spyridon Zolotas, Area Manager for Greece and Cyprus on the podium & Mr. Stefanos Chatzinikolaou,
Manager of RINA Academy Hellas, Mr. Alessandro Pescetto, Sector Manager Innovation of RINA Services, Mr. Giorgos Plevrakis, Business Development Manager of RINA Hellas
& Mr. Michael Markogiannis, Manager of Plan Approval & Technical Support Centre on the panel

Both these regulations passed through several rounds of considerations but now the bell for the final round is clearly heard and the shipping industry runs to comply with their requirements. Thus, the seminar's focus was to address the implementation process of EU MRV Regulation and the BWM Convention, highlighting important practical aspects from the perspective of the Classification Society.

The evening was opened by Mr. Spyridon Zolotas, Area Manager for Greece and Cyprus, who welcomed the participants “on board” and briefly referred to the regulatory challenges ahead of our Industry in connection to its long traditions.

The event was attended by Mr. Stefano Bertilone, Commercial Director, EMEA, who addressed the audience by referring to the international structure and growth of RINA Group to support its clients worldwide.

Mr. Stefanos Chatzinikolaou, Manager of RINA Academy Hellas, raised the main questions that the seminar should answer to, and chaired the technical session which included three technical presentations and an open discussion.
The first presentation, delivered by Mr. Giorgos Plevrakis, Business Development Manager of RINA Hellas, focused on the development steps of the Monitoring Plan and the verification services provided by RINA.

Mr. Alessandro Pescetto on the podium-overview of the seminar hall.

Mr. Alessandro Pescetto, Sector Manager Innovation of RINA Services, in his presentation described the solutions and tools developed by RINA for the monitoring and reporting of ship emissions. Pescetto particularly referred to the Smart DSS tool which is part of RINA’s software platform for energy efficiency (InfoShipEGO). This tool can be offered as stand-alone software to collect, elaborate and deliver emission reports and it is capable of handling both manual and automatic data inputs as a means to cover the possible data gaps in compliance with the EU MRV requirements.

Mr. Michael Markogiannis, Manager of Plan Approval & Technical Support Centre, RINA Hellas, delivered the presentation on the role of the Classification in the implementation of the BWM Convention focusing mainly on plan approval, commissioning and testing issues.

Finally, participants (over α hundred in numbers) had the chance to express their views and put their questions to the four panellists’ table during the third open session of the seminar.

Compliance dates are very close and ship owners/operators are still in need of clear answers to effectively implement the requirements set by the EU MRV and the WBM

Convention. In this sense, the seminar’s contribution was to underline the viewpoint of the Class Society and also demonstrate the capabilities of RINA in support of shipping companies.

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