Bureau Veritas aims to ease ship certification

   Classification society Bureau Veritas has launched a new certification and ship status electronic system.
   The new system aims to reduce the workload of ship owners and operators, as well as simplify access to information and ship statuses.
   “Ships’ certificates are the last great area of outdated paperwork,” said Claude Maillot, director of Ships in Service for Bureau Veritas. “It has become unwieldy, error-prone, open to confusion and difficult to maintain.”
   Maillot explained ship classification certificates have evolved from a single-page document into one with many pages and annexes that are comprised of both printed and handwritten sections. He said the goal of Bureau Veritas’ new certification system is to return the process to a single-page document, putting everything else online in a standardized format that’s easy to access. “That cuts down the chances of error, confusion and fraud and enables us to add new services to make life more efficient for ship owners and operators,” Maillot said.
   The new Certificate of Classification only houses the key identity of the ship and notation information, and is printed in a way that Bureau Veritas hopes will reduce fraud. All other information is placed online and can be updated electronically. Access is currently given to owners, charterers, and port authorities. Authorized users can go to www.veristar.com and print off what they need.
  The Ship Status available on the Website is made up of a number of sections, including ship particulars, owner/manager information, cargo and ballast capacities, class and statutory status, planned inspection items, one-year survey planner, continuous and/or PMS lists, regulatory information, and BV contacts. The Class and Statutory Status sections contain all available certificates – what most authorities and charterers need – as well as surveys, audits, recommendations, non-conformities, and memoranda.
   Maillot said Bureau Veritas hopes this will help with maintenance and survey planning because it makes ship statuses more visible.
   Bureau Veritas was created in 1828 and currently has about 52,000 employees in offices and laboratories in 140 countries. – Geoff Whiting