BV Reports Record-Breaking Year

International classification society Bureau Veritas reported arecord-breaking year, with a sustained growth of fifteen percent in net sales to the end of June, 2006. Speaking at the tenth annual Bureau Veritas Beaujolais Nouveau reception at Trinity House in London on November 16, BV marine division managing director Bernard Anne said, “Our group is doubling in size every five years, and I am confident we will reach over $2.2b in turnover by the end of the year. BV’s classed shipping fleet has grown to over 53.8m gross tons and more than 7,400 ships. Referring to BV’s recent announcement of its bid to acquire a majority stake in Germanischer Lloyd, Anne said such an alliance would be number one in ship classification in terms of numbers of vessels, order-book size, and global revenue, and number three or four in terms of tonnage in class. He added that, within ten years, the new grouping would have a twenty per cent share of the market in China, arguably the world’s largest shipbuilding nation, and thirteen per cent of the world’s largest shipping market, Greece.