ClassNK chairman Koichi Fujiwara has started work as the chairman of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) this month.

Indian Register chief executive Arun Sharma passed over the baton for the role, which is held for one year, on 1 July.

Fujiwara is a former Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism executive where his responsibilities focused mainly on the national shipbuilding industry.

He was appointed as chief executive of ClassNK in 2016 before taking on the role of chairman in March this year.

As ClassNK is a leading marine classification society, Fujiwara is expected to bring considerable clout to the position.

He said: “I am taking on the chairmanship of IACS at an especially challenging time for the industry. My objective is to ensure that IACS continues to meet the needs of its stakeholders by providing necessary technical leadership and guidance to facilitate the smooth introduction and harmonisation of new technologies and regulations in order to maximise the benefits of digitalisation and help accelerate decarbonisation.”

Cyber security, IACS internal quality assessment and potential new members are likely to be high on the list of IACS priorities over the coming year.

However, the recent coronavirus pandemic has also thrown up fresh challenges and opportunities likely to feature in Fujiwara’s tenure.

Travel and quarantine restrictions to prevent the spread of the disease have tested the classification societies’ capability to carry out surveys remotely while surveyors have limited access to vessels.

Many classification societies now want to relax the requirements on ships surveys and allow a more flexible and efficient regulation of the safety inspections which deploy state of the art digital and remote technology.