“Actually, there are 14,000 people working for Bureau Veritas in China. We used to say that China is the second home of Bureau Veritas, but it should be the first, because China has now become the largest operation center of Bureau Veritas, even larger than the French headquarters and the number of employees in China will grow even further.”

Speaking of the whole industry, he said, “When Bureau Veritas came back to China in 1993, there were only two or three foreign classification societies, but now there are eight or nine. In addition, the industry is undergoing reform. The Chinese maritime safety authorities are currently considering allowing foreign classification societies to provide classification services to Chinese flag vessels, which would give us more opportunities to help improve the quality of shipping equipment produced in China, build Chinese brands, and make greater contributions to Chinese society.”