The technical presentation introduced by the Committee’s Chairman Mr. George Sarris, President of Enterprises Shipping & Trading S.A.

Mr. Anastasios Angelopoulos, Deputy Country Chief Executive for Greece & Cyprus, Secretary of the Committee started with a small presentation regarding Bureau Veritas organization.

The technical discussion started with Dr. John Kokarakis, Vice President Technology & Business Development of Hellenic, Black Sea Region & Middle East Zone, presented the challenges associated with utilization of ultra-low sulphur fuel in the ECAs. This regulation dictates use of 0.1\% sulphur content in the ECAs starting January 1st. The introduction outlined the problems and was followed of lively workshop-style exchange of ideas and input from the participants.

Ballast water treatment was also discussed, being one of the spiky issued in the shipping industry. Ratification of the convention is imminent and the shipping community is hard pressed to select and install a treatment system. Unfortunately, regulatory uncertainty makes these tasks very difficult. Bureau Veritas is currently under preparation to tackle the flood of the oncoming technical work.

Like always the meeting was finished with the traditional dinner, where there were ample opportunities for everybody to fraternize and enjoy the delicious food offered by the restaurant of Yacht Club of Greece.