Panos Kirnidis, CEO of Palau International Ship Registry (PISR) was one of the first speakers to welcome shortsea shipping experts, owners, charters and sector professionals to the 2019 Shortsea Shipping Day at the Piraeus Yacht Club in Greece on Thursday 14 June.

As the lead sponsor for the event, organised with among others the European Shortsea Network and the Hellenic Short Sea Shipowners Association (HSSA), Panos Kirnidis stressed the importance of short sea shipping to the industry and the significant role it plays in the development of European economies.

“This has been a significant week for Palau International Ship Registry as in London on Monday at the IMO Executive Committee we were proud and honoured to be recognised as White List members of the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW). This means our offering to short sea ship owners, in particular to HSSA, is enhanced as we are now able to offer to seafarers, officers and ratings a Certificate of Competency (CoC) and a Certificate of Proficiency (CoP). Palau can now, with this new recognition of white list status, allow them to navigate onboard vessels of other flags that are also white listed, for example Marshal Islands, Liberia and Panama among others.

“This is also an excellent opportunity for me to be able to talk about short-sea shipping because it is one of those maritime sectors that I believe will be of greater importance in the coming years as we look further down the road towards zero emissions, digital operations and autonomous shipping.  Palau International Ship Registry was called the world’s fastest growing ship registry a little over 18 months ago and we have continued our growth by not only aligning ourselves with respected industry bodies and regulators, but also by continuing our development and acceptance of digital operations.”