ΣΥΝΕΝΤΕΥΞΕΙΣ

Εκτύπωση

INTERVIEW

28 Οκτωβρίου 2018.

 

PAILLETTE  PALAIOLOGOU

 

 

‘‘Our goal in Bureau Veritas is to provide high quality services to our clients’’

 

 

palaiologou1Mrs Palaiologou holds a BEng in Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering (University of Glasgow) & a MSc in Marine Engineering (University of Newcastle Upon Tyne).

She started her professional career at Oceanbulk Maritime S.A. in 1993 at the Technical Department and in 1999 she was promoted to “Head of Hull & Classification Division”.

In 2005 she joined Bureau Veritas as a Marine Center surveyor, in 2007 she was promoted to Delegate of the Marine Center Manager and in 2013 to Sales, Marketing & Business Development Manager for the Hellenic & Black Sea Region.

During 2015 & 2016 she served as Marine Marketing & Sales Director for the Marine & Offshore Division at the Head Office of Bureau Veritas in Paris.

In January 2017 she was appointed Vice President, Regional Chief Executive for the Hellenic & Black Sea Region, and since July 2018 she serves as Vice President, Hellenic, Black Sea & Adriatic Zone, located in Piraeus Greece.

Mrs. Paillette Palaiologou states «We always bear in mind that our key to success in our strong team spirit».

Mrs. Paillette Palaiologou says «Bureau Veritas is a global leader in testing, inspection and certification, serving clients’ needs in quality, health, safety, environmental protection and social responsibility».

According to Mrs. Paillette Palaiologou «When they choose Bureau Veritas as a partner, owners know they have access to expertise that moves at their pace and with their priorities».

 

 

Interview to: Georgia Ermidi

 

-Mrs Palaiologou you are the first woman to assume Bureau Veritas Vice President, Hellenic, Black Sea and Adriatic Zone. You are hard working, positive and inspiring. What is your model for successful management?

 

I whole heartedly believe in team work. Success is not a result of an individual but of a group of people that work together aiming to achieve a common goal. Our goal in Bureau Veritas is to provide high quality services to our clients 24/7. The evolution of technology is an important factor that helps us deliver our services more quickly and efficiently. Nonetheless, we always bear in mind that our key to success in our strong team spirit.

 

-Bureau Veritas has 190 years of history and was first called the "Information Office for Maritime Insurance". Give us a description of your company reffering to its services and activities.

 

Bureau Veritas is a global leader in testing, inspection and certification, serving clients’ needs in quality, health, safety, environmental protection and social responsibility.

For 190 years, our clients across all industries have looked to us to provide technical support, verify compliance or obtain certification.

Our network of over 1.400 offices and laboratories ensures we meet their needs, wherever they are in the world.

Bureau Veritas was founded in 1828 for the initial purpose of collecting, verifying and providing maritime insurance companies with precise and up-to-date information about the condition of ships and their equipment around the world.

Bureau Veritas today has 75.000 employees worldwide, a portfolio of 400.000 clients and the revenue for 2017 has reached 4,7 billion euro, according to latest data.

The extensive and diversified business portfolio of Bureau Veritas consists of 8 business lines:

Marine & Offshore , Industry ,In-Service Inspection & Verification, Construction, Certification, Commodities, Consumer Products, Government Services & International Trade.

In Bureau Veritas Piraeus, seven (7) out of the eight (8) business lines are active, led by Marine and Offshore.

Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore Division operates a fleet of 119M GT & 11.296 vessels out of which 36.5M GT are operated by the Piraeus office, representing 30% overall.

We have a continuous strong presence in the Greek Shipping Market, offering a complete set of services and ensuring that we meet the needs of our clients 24/7.

Our ongoing close cooperation with our Head Office, located in Paris, reassures the stable and enforced position Bureau Veritas holds in the Greek Shipping Community.

palaiologou2

 

-When did Bureau Veritas founded? What are the advantages of the BV?

 

Bureau Veritas in Greece was established in 1966 at Piraeus (50 years ago), initially as an agency office and was controlled by Mr Nikos Argyrakis, Marine Engineer.

In 1968 a new office was rented in Akti Miaouli situated next to the port of Piraeus and this is where BV started its activity as Marine branch of the Head Office in Paris, under the direct control of Mr Pierre Prost.

Bureau Veritas was operating under the name  “BUREAU VERITAS – REGISTRE DE CLASSIFICATION INTERNATIONAL DES NAVIRES ET DES AERONEFS”.

In 1971 Mr Prost was replaced by Mr Kermaidic who served in this position for almost 20 years and then by Mr Pierre Peynaud in 1990, Mr Hyung Duc Bau in 1996, Mr Peynaud again in 1998, Mr Didier Bouttier in 2000 and Mr Francois Teissier in 2008. In 2012 and for the first time in the history of Bureau Veritas Piraeus, the office was entrusted to “Greek hands” to a Veteran of shipping Mr Lambros Chahalis.

Between January 2017 and June 2018, I, Paillette Palaiologou have served as Country Chief Executive of Greece, controlling BV HELLAS S.A and as Regional Chief Executive of the Hellenic and Black Sea Region. Since July 2018 I have been appointed Vice President Hellenic, Black Sea and Adriatic Zone, that includes apart from Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Croatia, Serbia & Montenegro, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria.

Since its foundation, Bureau Veritas office at Piraeus consisted of senior experts in shipping, mainly well trained Marine Engineers and Naval Architects able to serve the ships always under the concept of safety and environmental protection.

Throughout the years Greek ship owned fleet has a continued growth and remains No.1 in the International Shipping. BV Piraeus office has its substantial share on this market. The last years that there was a lot of development in the Global and Greek Shipping Industry with substantial new orders, BV was able to secure a big part of it. In the meantime a number of Greek ship-owners entrusted BV and transferred to us an important number of their vessels, resulting to a substantial increase of the fleet classed by BV. This is due to the fact that BV was and will always be a close associate and friend of the Greek Ship Owner, offering 24/7 service, high quality know-how and above all trying to solve every vessel’s problem as if it was our own.

Today in BV Piraeus office we are controlling 1.070 vessels of 38.3 M GT with average age of almost 10 years with excellent quality indicators.

Shipowners, shipyards and offshore operators come to Bureau Veritas as we offer them a peace of mind that their projects will work and be safe. In BV we do not apply corners cut, we offer highest technology and most rigorous scrutiny and we make sure that all projects move along quickly.

Shipowners are not coming to us just for class and statutory matters, but also for the wide range of responsive services which Bureau Veritas delivers helping owners operate more efficiently. Today we see our classed fleet grow globally to 11,300 ships, and much of that growth came from owners in Greece moving vessels to BV class. Owners in BV class are pushing technology frontiers, moving into Arctic-capable LNG carriers, for example. We are with the owners every step of the way, using our expertise to give them the confidence to move into new areas and new markets.

Nowhere is that more true than in our entrepreneurial Hellenic & Black Sea Region. Here we live by the market and when owners decide to act, they want to act while the market is right. When they choose Bureau Veritas as a partner, owners know they have access to expertise that moves at their pace and with their priorities.

 

-How many vessels are registered with BV? What is the number of newbuildings?

 

The Bureau Veritas fleet is comprised of 11.296 ships with 119 million GT with an average age of 13,80 years old. The fleet consists of Bulk Carriers (35%), Tankers (20%), Containers (16%), Gas carriers, Cargo ships, Passenger ships, offshore and others. Regarding the Owner’s nationality, as it was expected the Greeks are the dominant majority followed by the French, Chinese, Singaporeans, British, Germans, Dutch, Italians, Turks, Japanese, etc.

The Bureau Veritas Piraeus Office currently manages a diversified fleet in terms of ship types that totals up to more than 1.070 vessels and 38.3 million GT. The vast majority of our fleet consists of Bulk Carriers, Tankers, Containers & Gas carriers but also passenger vessels, with an average age of only 10 years old.

Furthermore, we have currently 25 vessels of a total of 1.13 M GT under construction in several yards in China and Korea.

 

-What about the new comprehensive approach to support shipowners in addressing maritime cyber risks: Bureau Veritas has developed a series of classification notations, guidelines and services.

 

Bureau Veritas considered the cyber risks since July 2017, by issuing the SYS-COM notation. This notation tried to tackle what to us was considered the prime cyber safety risk, which is the connection between ship to shore via satellite and possible vulnerability of vessel operational systems affected by this connection (e.g. navigation, engine monitoring etc.). We have applied SYS-COM successfully to vessels where this connection was considered critical, e.g. dynamically positioned vessels and gas carriers with capability of remote monitoring and control of cargo plant.

However, shipowners face more cyber risks, not only connected with vessel safety but with data security and possibility of malicious attack of their IT systems. For this reason, Bureau Veritas established several working groups bringing together representatives of all industry players (owners, consultants, software and hardware makers, integrators), in order to collect and acknowledge the needs of the industry. The new rule note NR659 is the fruit of this labor and introduces two new additional class notations, "Cyber Managed" and "Cyber Secure". In these notations BV tried to use guidelines from well known industry standards and frameworks (BIMCO, NIST, ISO) but adapt them to the needs and specificities of the shipping industry.

The "Cyber Managed" notation is a way to control security by establishing procedures related to access management, change management, crew roles and training. The driving force is a Security Risk Analysis that can be performed using the "BV Cyber Security Risk Analysis Guidelines" also made available by Bureau Veritas. The "Cyber Secure" notation is mainly targeted to newly constructed vessels as it introduces new hardware and software requirements, security of systems by design and capability for traceability of events.

Furthermore Bureau Veritas introduced Rule Note NR 642 "BV Cyber security requirement for products". The purpose of this rule note is to establish a framework of minimum requirements for equipment installed on board related to their cyber security criticality level. We are already in the process of certifying equipment for manufacturers, providing owners with an extra level of assurance when investing in software and hardware solutions.

Finally, through our BV Solutions consulting branch, owners may be provided with advanced advisory services if they wish to examine their level of maturity or wish to implement solutions to tackle their company's cyber risks.

 

-Can you tell us about your new digital tool. Fuel Consumption helps shipowners comply with the new regulations for energy efficiency management.

 

The Bureau Veritas online platform "My Fuel Consumption" is a convenient application available for all ships classed by Bureau Veritas that simplifies compliance with IMO Data Collection System (DCS) and EU MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, Verification). As is well known, these regulations aim to limit greenhouse gas emissions, requiring ships over 5,000 GT to collect consumption data for CO2 emissions. "My Fuel Consumption" simplifies compliance with fuel consumption and emission regulations by providing a user-friendly, fully digitized platform.

Our app collects, aggregates, and reports annual fuel consumption data for the appropriate flag state and allows clients to directly file for and receive Statements of Compliance (SoC) and Confirmations of Compliance (CoC). For IMO DCS, the app allows clients to create and submit a Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) to the relevant flag states or Recognized Organization (RO). The app then tracks the review process and downloads the Confirmation of Compliance (CoC) upon approval. This all-in-one platform however, is not only a do-it-yourself tool. Through the app, the clients may have access to Bureau Veritas IMO DCS or EU MRV experts who may provide personalized assistance to help them achieve compliance.