Hiroaki Sakashita is the new chief executive of Japanese classification society ClassNK.
He takes over from Koichi Fujiwara, who has been appointed chairman of the board.
Sakashita, like Fujiwara, is a former government official who has spent most of his career at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism since 1980.
A naval architect who graduated from the University of Yokohama, Sakashita joined ClassNK in 2018 and became senior executive vice president last year.
“The maritime industry is changing its shape to adapt to environmental responsibilities and the digital era,” he said.
“For the swift mitigation of the industry to the new stage, there will be an increasing need for the role of independent third-party organisations to assure the safety, environmental performance and quality of new technologies or concepts.”
He said ClassNK will take an active role in initiatives to boost its capability and pave the way for new technology.
ClassNK is one of the largest International Association of Classification Society members. It classes a fleet of 1,970 ships amounting to 250m gt.
However, Sakashita becomes chief executive at a difficult time for classification societies due to the decline in newbuilding volumes.
The problem has been particularly acute for ClassNK, as the Japanese shipbuilding industry, which provided much of its business, appears to be in decline.
New ships classed by ClassNK fell from a peak of 900 amounting to 20m gt in 2012 to 600 ships of 18.2m gt at the end of last year.
It is less diverse than other classification societies such as DNV GL and Lloyd’s Register and derives almost all its income from the marine business.
Sakashita will probably seek to broaden its business base, as well as promote digital and environmental technologies.
