This time of the year always gives a great opportunity to consider lessons learned and set new year’s resolutions for new beginnings. For that matter, Dr. John Kokarakis, Technical Director, HBSA Zone, Bureau Veritas makes an assessment of 2021 and shares his message for the new year across the global maritime community.
SAFETY4SEA: How would you briefly describe 2021? What is your assessment?
Dr. John Kokarakis: Recovery year. Followed the COVID pandemic it went better than expected proving the fact that people are naturally optimistic.
S4S: What were the lessons learned for the maritime industry in 2021 and what to keep for the new year moving forwards?
JK:
Shipping must decide on many issues. The most critical aspect is the choice of propulsion mode and the choice of the source of energy. Shipping must decide what alternative fuel is the most appropriate to achieve the decarbonization targets set by IMO.
S4S: Focusing on your area of expertise, what do you think that will be the biggest challenge(s) for the industry in 2022?
JK: How to deal with the carbon intensity regulation in order to get acceptable rating. Ship operation becomes a challenging exercise and a game of chess on what source of energy to utilize.
S4S: What would be the new-year’s resolutions for your organization?
JK: Better, greener, more challenging, more efficient, more innovative, more successful, multi-cultural and multifaceted.
S4S: What are you looking forward to in 2022? What would you be most glad about seeing changing in the maritime industry next year?
JK: Societal and regulation-induced pressure on stakeholders to decarbonize, without significant progress on technology.
S4S: If you could make one wish for the maritime industry for the year to come, what would you ask for?
JK: To go through the tsunami of regulations in the easiest way possible.
In 2022,
- We need to repeat… the success story of our retired colleagues.
- We need to lose… the pessimistic attitude and go for a brighter future.
- We need to gain… experience and knowledge prior to decisions.
- We can succeed by… acting as a Team.
The views presented are only those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
