DNV has passed the 100 million-gross tons mark by taking Danaos Shipping’s container ship P&O Nedlloyd Caracas into class on delivery from Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industry yard.
The container ship has been built for Greek shipowner John Coustas, president and chief executive officer of Danaos Shipping. DNV’s Chairman of the Board, Wilhelm Wilhelmsen, attended the christening ceremony at the Samsung yard.
“This is an important milestone in DNV’s development,” says Wilhelm Wilhelmsen. “The DNV fleet has now reached 100 million gross tons – an all time high. This is a result of DNV’s ability to attract new quality-oriented customers all over the world. The achievement is all the more satisfying as the newbuilding is being built for a Greek shipowner, Mr Coustas of Danaos Shipping. DNV now has about 25 per cent of all Greek contracted newbuildings.”
Internationally, DNV has experienced its strongest growth lately in Asia. In the past four months, the classification society has gained about 40 per cent of all newbuilding orders in South Korea. DNV also has an 18-per-cent share of all the ships that are on order or being built world-wide.
According to DNV’s chief executive officer, Miklos Konkoly-Thege, the key to DNV’s positive growth has been the company’s focus on balancing quality and cost-effectiveness. “It is gratifying that our growth comes during a period when DNV has been especially active in its work to improve safety at sea. In addition to reaching
100 million gross tons, Port State detention statistics reveal that DNV-classed vessels have the lowest detention ratio worldwide. This demonstrates that we have customers who value quality highly, and that our follow up services work,” says Konkoly-Thege.