Roberto Cazzulo, chief risk officer at Italian classification society Rina, has been elected as the next chair of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS).
Cazzulo will take over from Lloyd’s Register chief executive Nick Brown, who took on the role in 2022.
The IACS chair traditionally had been decided on a rotational basis between its 11 classification society members, but the position is now elected following a reform of the organisation’s governance.
“It is an honour for me to be elected, and I look forward to building on the excellent work done by Nick Brown in ensuring IACS is well positioned to meet the environmental and technological challenges faced by shipping,” Cazzulo said.
The election was held at the recent IACS council meeting in Gdansk, Poland.
The council welcomed the recent decision by the International Maritime Organization to develop a framework for the safe decarbonisation of shipping.
IACS has been lobbying the IMO to ensure that critical safety concerns are not overlooked in the drive to lower carbon emissions.
A Safe Decarbonisation Panel has been established to monitor the safety of alternative fuels and new technologies, and provide expert input to industry and regulatory forums addressing CO2 reduction measures.
Brown said: “IACS’ significant contributions to safe decarbonisation, both in terms of keeping safety at the forefront of IMO discussions and through the substantive technical contributions it is making to support the introduction of alternative fuels and technologies, demonstrate the value that a non-commercial, impartial association brings to this debate.”
