摘要：In early July 2025, Beijing became the focal point of the global maritime community as the International Association of Classifica

△Mr.Roberto Cazzulo,Council Chair of International Association of Classification Societies(IACS)

Seizing this valuable opportunity, China Ship Survey was privileged to conduct an in-depth interview with Chair Cazzulo. As the critical nexus connecting global shipping, shipbuilding, and regulation, IACS has long stood at the forefront of technical standards and safety protocols. Its framework safeguards over 90% of the world’s cargo-carrying tonnage throughout vessels’ lifecycles while enhancing marine environmental protection. Amidst evolving industry dynamics, IACS’ role continues to expand in scope and significance.

In this exclusive dialogue, Chair Cazzulo elaborated on IACS’ strategic response to IMO’s Net-Zero Framework, maritime innovation practice, key priorities of the Safe Digital Transformation Panel (SDTP), and embedding of human element considerations across its workflows. He further highlighted IACS’ contributions to IMO regulatory developments. Notably, Chair Cazzulo reflected on his collaboration with CCS top management, commending CCS’ vital role within IACS and expressing high expectations for its future contributions. This conversation illuminates both the responsibility borne by a leading international organization and the powerful momentum driving shipping toward a green, digital future.

Q: The IACS Annual Review 2024 released in late March comprehensively presents IACS’ achievements and developments, underscoring its pivotal role as a global maritime technical leader. With evolving industry landscapes and emerging challenges, how do you think this has reshaped the role and mission of IACS in the maritime industry?

A: You are right that much has changed over the past decade. Many developments have also demonstrated the leading role of China in this respect. Today, China’s shipbuilding industry is recognized as a leader in some sectors for cargo ships, such as tankers, bulk carriers and other very specialized vessels. But in terms of evolution of technology, nowadays we have to face issues like the use of alternative fuels to reduce carbon emissions. This represents a major challenge for the technological sector, for manufacturers, for builders and also for classification societies, marking a profound transformation of the industry.

Another shift that is evident in our daily life today while also profoundly reshaping shipping is the digital transformation. In both decarbonization and digitalization, we see that there are significant efforts required to ensure safe transitions. And our main issue as classification societies is to stay close to the industry in this transformation and also to support the industry improving, ensuring that any new technologies are safe and ready for implementation. This requires a lot of work both as an association and for the individual members. Many other issues also require full consideration from classification societies. But I think that digital transformation particularly involves matters of communication, methods of use of a large amount of data, monitoring the performance of vessels throughout their voyages, using these tools for autonomous vessels that are very important for the future. These evolutions have significant impact on all businesses including classification.

Q: Digitalization and decarbonization are indeed core topics high on the agenda of the maritime industry. With the introduction of the IMO Net-Zero Framework, how will IACS align with the IMO policy measures to support the industry in preparing for regulatory compliance?

In this respect, IACS is agnostic. We do not prefer one solution to the others. We strive to contribute more technical expertise to ensure that all the solutions become viable and safe. To this end, we have in our workload a lot of project teams dedicated to this matter and focused on providing recommendations to shipbuilders and classification societies in order to ensure that, for instance, bunkering operations in ports are safe and there is no spread of dangerous gases in areas that often are very much crowded and close to the city. So I think to guarantee that all operations are carried out safely is increasingly important for some types of these fuels. We hope that through these efforts we can assist the industries, both shipbuilding and shipping, to implement the solutions that they would like to take in the short term and the solutions that they would select for new buildings in the longer terms. And we have to keep our mind open to any solutions.

We also offer IMO our services for monitoring fuel consumption, which is an important aspect to prove that the performance of ships improves. In this role we are called “verifiers” because we can be involved to prove and verify that the information is robust and proper for evaluation of fuel consumption, for regulation of ship performance, and also for meeting the IMO requirements concerning the finance. That is a very important issue for stakeholders because of the amount of finance that is requested: if you do nothing, you will have to pay a lot for trading your vessel.

Q: It is clear that safety is always the priority of IACS. IACS is also actively advancing maritime innovation, could you share, how will IACS, under its ‘safety-first’ principle, support the development and application of emerging technologies to meet market demands?

A: First of all, we would like to ensure that when there is a new design, the focus remains on people so as to prevent crew or passengers from being immediately exposed to hazards. As a class, we strive to support designers in developing solutions that enable safe ship operations without exposing the people to additional risks. And we call it human-centered approach. That means that during the design process, operators are welcomed to engage at the earliest stages and present the way they would operate the vessel, thus minimizing the burden or risk for people in new vessel designs. This is nothing new, but it is an innovation in the process of designing and building new ships. We are fully aware that administrations or big organizations are along the same line and we would like to contribute to that issue.

Then there are many other new technology issues, as I said about digitalization, where class can assist, for instance, in defining what we call a digital twin model – the description of a ship on the computer so that you can simulate the ship behavior even before building or delivering the ship. This might be useful for machine learning to understand how these things operate and for allowing people to learn about the use of artificial intelligence-related technologies through video/gamified training. This is an area where also IACS and individual classification societies are very active.

Q: To drive maritime digitalization, IACS has specifically established the Safe Digital Transformation Panel (SDTP). What's next for the Panel? Could you please tell us about the primary focus areas of this Panel moving forward?

A: The first primary focus area was and is cyber security. Because we know that there could be not only cyber-attacks but also some misuse of the systems on board that can open the door and facilitate a cyber safety or security issue. Therefore, IACS developed the “Unified Requirements” – internal procedures, standards, and recommendations both for the building of new ships and for operation of ships in service in order to reduce as well as possible cyber risk. These risks may come from the outside, such as hackers trying to infiltrate ship files, destroy systems, disrupt operations, or steal the data and then ask for ransom. This kind of severe hazards has to be prevented. Cyber-attacks could also be related to internal risks because ship systems are more and more integrated and interconnected, and perhaps certain operation can create problems to other systems on board from the automation point of view for instance. So I think good cyber requirements and recommendations was our first priority.

The Safe Digital Transformation Panel is also addressing other critical issues, including Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS). We are fully aware that in China there are a lot of developments in this area. And then the international Maritime Organization is developing a safety code for this kind of autonomous vessels. IACS is contributing to the development of the code and also developing its own criteria in order to ensure that when a MASS is classed, it is classed in accordance with clear and practical standards that take into account safety at the first, as a must.

There are other focused areas, for instance, the quality and robustness of data transferred from the ship to the shore, from the shore to interested parties (e.g., flag administrations, classification societies, and charterers). These data have to be consistent and robust that cannot be destroyed so that the quality remains very high. The Panel is working to define some standards to ensure the quality of data taken from the ship and provided to the shore. It is very important nowadays because more and more vessels are monitored in their operation to identify performance improvement opportunities, such as route optimization, air lubrication and alternative ways of reducing fuel consumption. When you monitor, it means that somebody has to look at the large amount of data until they take out the information that is simple enough to be understood also by non-specialists. In this area IACS and the individual member societies are working hard to follow these technologies.

Q: At the C89 meeting held in 2024, IACS emphasized the need to embed Human Element considerations into its work at the earliest stages across all its work streams. Could you please give us more details about how this approach is implemented in practice?

A: In practice, there is an internal guideline that has been developed by our specialists within the classification societies, professors and specialists on the human element. It would help our technical people to avoid forgetting human element issues when developing a new regulation or when considering an issue related to class. This guideline has been finished and distributed within all the classification societies.

We have also organized several workshops so the people became aware about human element issues more than before and understood that they have to take into account aspects like, for instance, any requirements for additional procedures for training in order that they are suited for the skills and qualification of the people, because people are the most important assets for all sectors including shipping. If we impose a lot of paperwork and procedures on the master and the crew who are already very busy, it means that they will not be able to follow the operation and they will stay more on the paperwork. Our guidelines suggest keeping the procedure as simple and effective as possible in order not to overburden the crew and the master. For instance, electronic transmission of a certificate may be much easier than producing a lot of papers, putting stamps, understanding the paper and so on. The guidelines have been reviewed after these workshops, and they are at the second level of refinement. They will be used by any internal working groups, panels or project teams that are dealing with IACS regulations.

When we apply the guidelines, we found that they have a value also for the industry in general. So very recently we published these guidelines on the IACS website, and any interested parties, such as operators, can download them and consider whether they may be applicable also for themselves. This is a recommendation, but I think it is very important because human element is a very positive concept instead of a bad word.

Q: Sustainability requires collaboration across the entire maritime value chain. How will IACS deepen its engagement with IMO, regional bodies and other stakeholders to foster collaboration and tackle complex challenges through concerted efforts?

A: IACS’ Annual Review 2024 clearly presents data on our contributions to IMO activities. IACS has held consultative status as a non-governmental international organization at the IMO since 1969. In 2024, IACS submitted over 80 submissions and multiple recommendations to the IMO. Simultaneously, a large number of IACS experts are following and participating in IMO developments, with most classification society technicians also engaging in IMO affairs as part of the flag state delegations. Throughout these efforts, we remain steadfast in supporting IMO’s regulatory efforts. Of course the speed of these efforts is also related to the level of complexity. We also try in our contribution to accelerate some aspects of implementation of regulations that may be very general and require more detailed guidelines or instructions. In this area, we assist the flag states on implementation matters. And finally, the annual review stated that last year, the technical resources dedicated by IACS to this development equals to a hundred man-years, which means that we had in total figures like a hundred men (or women of course,) dedicated to these developments day and night.

Q: Speaking of collaboration, IACS in itself is a result of collaboration among its member class societies. As one of the IACS members, CCS also actively engages in IACS affairs. Could you please share your views on the role and contributions of CCS within IACS? And What reflections do you have on your personal collaboration experience with CCS?

A: I think CCS has a long history of participation in the IACS work. Since I joined the IACS Council, I have been fortunate to collaborate with several senior leaders of CCS, during which we advanced numerous impactful joint initiatives and witnessed major milestones. During CCS’ tenure chairing IACS, it placed particular emphasis on quality, on the performance of classification societies and recognized organization in accordance with the international quality standards, providing crucial support to allow IACS to implement these new quality requirements in the most proper way. CCS also made exceptional contributions to IACS when it embarked on a huge project for defining common structural rules for tankers and bulk carriers. Due to the importance of China in building these ships nowadays, I think that these efforts have produced the standard that has helped the Chinese industry to develop in this area, in addition to other Asian countries like Japan and Korea and other southeast Asia countries.

On a personal basis, I was lucky to have cooperated closely with CCS top management. Through this process, we have built a profound friendship, which has been an unforgettable experience for me. Hosting this meeting in Beijing has been particularly meaningful, and we greatly appreciated the efforts that Mr. Cai Yanxian and CCS have dedicated for organizing this council meeting. This event created a unique opportunity for a high level meeting with stakeholders including flag administrations, IMO representatives, shipbuilders, shipowners, class society representatives in China. Yesterday’s meeting was very important in this context.

Q: Looking ahead, what are your expectations for the future development of CCS?

A: I am sure that CCS has a clear plan for its own development strategy. But in terms of its contributions to the international activities, I think that the expectations of IACS and all the members on CCS are very high. Because of basically three elements. First of all, the importance of the country in general due to the economy and all the trades that go to or from China. Secondly, the importance of Chinese shipbuilding industry as I mentioned in the building of bulk carriers and tankers with an extremely high global market share. The expectation is that CCS will offer to IACS many indications on how the shipbuilding industry is developing, and what will be the future developments. Thirdly, in all the working groups and panels where CCS is present, we always appreciate its contribution and personal efforts to the IACS activities. This fully proves that CCS’ research and development is at the top level, and it has met the highest standards of classification societies in contributing to IACS work.

来源：中国船检