Page 47: of Maritime Logistics Professional Magazine (Q4 2011)

www.maritimeprofessional.com Maritime Professional 47 CLASSIFICATION SOCIETIES Italian classification society RINA is 150 years old this year, and it is celebrating its landmark anniversary by revamping its internal organization. ?We began as a ship clas- sification society in Italy, but as the needs of our clients change, we have to change too,? explains Ugo Salerno, CEO, RINA. ?We are reacting to three specific trends. Firstly our client base is growing fastest in countries where the economies are growing. So we have to be on the ground there, delivering global services with local staff. Secondly our clients are no longer seeking simply ship classification. They want a wide and increasing range of services, and they want them delivered coherently through a single point of con- tact. So we have to create a multi-disciplinary structure with- in RINA to deliver that. And thirdly, and running through everything we do, is the demand for sustainability. We have to knit all our services together with a green thread and helpour clients to reduce their global impacts.? GLOBALIZATION MEANS GOING LOCAL, TOO RINA?s drive to globalize and go local has led to rapid growth in China, where emerging private shipowners now class more than 120 ships with RINA, including newbuild- ings in Chinese yards. ?We went into China, trained local staff and are now active in every area of industry, transporta- tion and environmental protection,? explains Salerno. ?We reach out globally to help companies which are also global-izing, as so many are in China. We help by bridging the gap in competency for newcomers to the global market place to boost their competitive capacity on the global market.? The drive to be local means that today, while RINA has Italian roots, its 1,500 staff are made up of 46 nationalities. ?We know that our people and their skills are what our clients need, but we also know they no longer simply need them in defined and limited areas. They want to work with us across a range of fields,? says Salerno. ?For example ENI, an oil company, uses us for supplier qualification, pipeline certifi- cation, anti-bribery systems, research and development of specialist vessels for Caspian Sea services and a host of other things. That is why we are sweeping away the silos within the company to create client-focused teams, specific to that client?s global needs, rather than having divisions focused on marine, or industry or certification. MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAMS: RINA & TRUST According to Salerno the process of multi-disciplinary teamworking began with RINA?s multi-faceted role in the devel- opment of the first permanent offshore gas terminal, the Adriatic LNG. That is now on stream delivering 8 bcm of LNG per annum and work is well in hand on the world?s first true floating offshore FLNG terminal, the 3.75bcm per annum OLT Offshore Livorno project. For both projects RINAKnitting a Green Thread: Italian Classification Society ramps up for the next 150 years. Ugo Salerno, CEO, RINAMP #4 (34-49):MP Layouts 11/8/2011 2:12 PM Page 47