CESS Annual Meeting 2014
Press Release

CESS, Committee for Expertise of Shipbuilding Specifics (CESS) held its
annual meeting in Nantes, France on 28 August, 2014 where themember associations Japan, Europe, China, Korea and U.S.A. gatheredand discussed key issues surrounding the global shipbuilding industry.
The meeting was hosted by Europe.
The delegates reviewed CESS’s activities from the past year and theactivities expected to come, and exchanged views to seek further
cooperation in voicing common opinions on shipbuilding issues.
The participants agreed that CESS continued to appeal as a platform toshare views and develop common positions on important issues,
especially regulatory, and to communicate these to counterpart
organisations in the maritime industry.
The delegates discussed important ongoing issues, in particular, thereduction of GHG emissions from ships, where the maritime industry
continues to focus on improvements for existing vessels.
The
shipbuilding industry continues to contribute to seeking practical andeffective solutions for existing ships, whilst continuing to work on
newbuilding ships. Furthermore the sector is committed to working
closely with the ship-owners and classification societies to enable theEnergy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) to function smoothly.
Furthermore the implementation of the Ballast Water Convention, as
well as the protection of intellectual property rights (striking a balance
between safety and environmental regulatory requirements), were also
discussed by the delegates.
One of the most important issues where a common conclusion wasdrawn by the CESS members is that careful impact assessment isneeded involving relevant industry stakeholders when drafting new1

CESS Annual Meeting 2014
Press Release
regulation. This would result in the proactive adoption of newtechnologies and allow the industry to demonstrate their effectivenessfor meeting the objectives of new regulation. As a result there could
be smoother adoption and acceptance for new rules by the wholemaritime community.
A report on Port State Control activities as part of the Paris and Tokyo
MOU’s during 2013 was made. It was noted that both regions weresteadily carrying out their port state control activities as in previousyears.
The report showed that the shipbuilding quality related
deficiencies were kept at low levels, and that ship detentions have been
improved in relation to previous years. The ship types whichcharacterises aged ships, such as reefer fleet and general cargo fleet
have shown above average detention rates. An improvement of these
detentions may be possible as the older ships will be replaced in thefuture by new ships or, other ship types. Age related observations need
to be closely monitored because some ship types consistently showed
detention rates rise after reaching certain age.
CESS member associations noted that closer ties among its members
are becoming more and more important for the future prosperity of theindustry. In the year ahead, further activities and the effective
promotion of joint solutions for the aforementioned issues is essential
to continue the work of CESS. CESS will report on its activities at theforthcoming meeting of the JECKU (Shipbuilding) Top Executive
Meeting scheduled to take place in Paris, from the 5th-7th of November,
2014.
Dave Iwamoto
CESS Chairman[c/o The Shipbuilders’ Association of Japan
15-12, Toranomon 1-Chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan]
minato@sajn.or.jp

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