RINA celebrates ties with Greece on 150th anniversary

RINA celebrates ties with Greece on 150th anniversary

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RINA celebrates ties with Greece on 150th anniversary

International certification, verification and ship classification company RINA is celebrating its ties with Greece on its 150th anniversary. Formed in Genoa, Italy, in 1861 as a ship classification society, RINA is today a global multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural company with growing business in Greece and the surrounding region.

Speaking at a reception to mark the event held on board the SS Hellas Liberty in Piraeus today, Mr Ugo Salerno, CEO, RINA, said, “We are very happy to be here in Greece today, celebrating both our growing relationships with Greek partners and our 150 years of experience and tradition. We share the goals of our partners here, working to build a sound resilient business, respecting people, community and environment. We provide experience and competence to support industry in improving its operations, and society in improving the quality of life. We are celebrating on board this historic ship, Hellas Liberty, which is also a symbol of Greek shipping history. Nowadays it is important to look back to our roots, to find the inspiration and the enthusiasm for future challenges.”

“We are active in every area of industry, transportation and environmental protection and, like the Greek shipping and business community we have deep maritime roots and a shared Mediterranean heritage.”

RINA today works in a multi-disciplinary way to service a wide range of industries. Maritime classification continues to be the backbone of RINA’s global activities and its work in Greece. RINA’s global classed fleet has grown strongly and now stands at 4,275 ships totalling 32.7 MGT. The growth comes from newbuildings joining the fleet and from Greek and Chinese owners choosing to transfer modern ships into RINA class.

Today RINA classes more than 260 Greek-owned vessels, totalling about 4.5 MGT, and provides a local plan approval service and consultancy support in Piraeus. The current fleet is now well diversified with a strong presence in each sector – bulk, dry cargo, tanker, passenger, warships and service craft – and an increasingly global distribution of owners. The lower average age of the fleet, strengthened support services for owners and a relentless focus on quality has paid off as the Paris MOU rated RINA the best performing Recognised Organisation and leading classification society based on port state control results last year.

RINA is now a well-known certification body providing services in Greece in accordance with international certification schemes such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, SA 8000, ISO 27001 and several code of conduct standards.

Group turnover is Euro205m, and RINA employs 1,438 qualified staff. Those staff now include forty-six different nationalities, and over 60 per cent are graduates. They are close to their clients, in 120 offices in 42 countries, including several new countries during 2010. RINA has had a presence in Greece for over 20 years. The exclusive Piraeus Office was opened in 1995 and today provides a wide range of services to ship owners, yacht owners and other industries. After the successful opening of the Piraeus plan approval centre in 2008, this year a yachting station was opened with a dedicated team to respond to the needs of this sector.

RINA’s activities in Greece have also recently been reinforced by the opening of a Piraeus training centre, and by strengthening collaboration with first-class local firms to better serve the needs of our Greek clients.

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