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DNV GL move quickly to reassure Greek shipowners about merger

DNV GL move quickly to reassure Greek shipowners about merger
Literally within hours of world’s largest classification society opening for business its ceo was making plans to fly to Greece to meet with leaders of the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS). His mission, to explain the creation of DNV GL Group and allay concerns within the Greek community about the creation of the classification giant.

No sooner had DNV GL’s head, Henrik Madsen left Greece, than Erik van der Noordaa, the man directly in charge of society’s maritime activities, was in Greece explaining to the wider community the thinking behind the merger of Norway’s DNV and Germany’s GL, and emphasising how important Greek backing was for the venture to realise its great potential.

While Madsen's visit was kept under wraps and it is understood he not only met UGS leaders but also individual shipowners, van der Noordaa’s visit was planned to tie in with the 36th, and what turned out to be the last, agm of GL’s powerful Hellenic committee.

While many dispute big is best, DNV GL is intent on displaying biggest is not seen as arrogant, but rather as being ready to take the responsibilities of leadership that go with being the biggest. Having overtaken ClassNK as the world’s largest class society, van der Noordaa said the merger puts the group “in a better position to meet the challenges, as we work to safeguard and protect the world and the business of shipping”.

He said DNV GL will offer "an even broader range of services, a more effective network, more R&D activities and an even better set up to service its maritime customers worldwide".

Van der Noordaa said the merger "is not about money", but is rather about cycles and shipping experience. He told members of GL's Hellas committee the partners are "determined to make this union work", saying “it will be a journey, but an interesting journey, and we have to make it work, make it work together".

Though long in the planning DNV GL Group became operative September 12. Madsen was in Greece two working days later and van der Noordaa flew in for 24 September. He said the fact he and leading members of GL's shipping team came to Greece before visiting any other group underlined the role of the Greek clients.

Panos Laskaridis, a member of the seven-member UGS executive and chairman of GL’s Hellas committee, expressed the hope the "future will improve through this union". He pointed out the close working relationship in Piraeus with surveyors, and said he "hopes these relationships will continue" and the concerns raised during the committee meeting "will lead to positive results".

During the meeting Laskaridis had expressed the view that in recent times class has tended to ignore shipowners and seemed to listen more to regulators and shipyards. He said, “shipowners want a clear commitment from class" and a closer "relationship regarding lobbying". He also pointed out the two classification societies had “different working and pricing policies and clients do not want to see costs going up”.

Greeks are prime believers in free competition, and the freedom of choice it allows. After the committee meeting, Laskaridis again referred to concerns about costs. He also noted: "Shipping is always a challenging industry and we hope classification stays on our side. There are many challenges for DNV GL. We are in a changing world and what seemed inconceivable 10 years ago is now the norm."

Olaf Mager, the group's communications head, said work is in progress on a harmonised rule book which should be ready by early 2015. He said the process is not being rushed as the "aim is to enable clients to streamline their operations”, and the "new rules are seen as a new tool". When it comes to innovation, Mager said that while DNV and GL had the past been competing "they are on the same mind track".

Neither van der Noordaa or Mager would comment on another topic discussed after the committee meeting broke up. Some attendees were critical of the lack of information and advice being provided by class societies into investigations of headline grabbing casualties. Indeed, there were suggestions of cover-ups with one person wondering why the media often fails to ask questions about casualties. This issue has also been raised by Intercargo.