Some Things Have Remained the Same

President of New Wave Media, Greg Trauthwein, spoke to Knut Ørbeck Nilssen, CEO Maritime, DNV, for the latest episode of Maritime Reporter TV.

Asked about what has remained the same over his 30+ year maritime career, Nilssen said: “If I look to the maritime industry, it has really maintained a fairly stable regulatory environment over all these 30 plus years. We still have the IMO, as a global regulator, which is quite rare for any industry.

“We still have flag states, port states and not least, classification societies, and these are all very stable regulatory entities that keep us a very international industry. And this consistency has allowed the industry to really focus on innovation, continuous improvement, and not be too much ‘drowned’ in regulatory or national requirements that might hinder progress on an overall scale.

“Another one is that it's still very much a people's business. We have different tools, but we are still very much relating to each as individuals, as people, and not least the seafarers. They remain, to a very large degree, at the core of safe operations back in the, say, early 90s and today. It's still the seafarers that are really carrying the biggest