Paris La Défense, June 18, 2020 – Bureau Veritas (BV), a world leader in testing, inspection and certification (TIC) services, is working with PONANT, a cruise company with a fleet of 11 smaller-scale ships  combining state-of-the-art technology and respect for the environment, to help implement effective infection prevention measures.

PONANT will benefit from the ‘Restart your Business with BV’ suite of solutions developed for passenger ship clients. ‘Restart your Business with BV’ for passenger ships meets the specific requirements of this market addressing health risks, as posed by COVID-19 and other infections. ‘Restart your Business with BV’ provides procedures and measures to protect passengers, company personnel and other stakeholders as operations are resumed, helping ensure that appropriate health and safety standards are put in place.

Matthieu de Tugny, Executive Vice President Bureau Veritas, Marine & Offshore, commented, ‘Bureau Veritas has been working across many industries to help develop new standards both with – and for, clients, in order to provide assurance to stakeholders and regulators that the risk of infection are being mitigated effectively. This service developed for passenger ships includes a framework of standards and best practices. Compliance with which is demonstrated by our new Bureau Veritas label, SafeGuard. The intention is that the label is visible and helps provide confidence to all onboard and in related operations ashore.’

The SafeGuard label is awarded when it can be satisfactorily certified that the operator has addressed health, safety and hygiene requirements, has properly implemented necessary procedures, has trained the crew and all employees on board and has, as well, agreed procedures with ports and terminals for port operations.

Speaking on behalf of  PONANT Frédéric Gallois, Chief Operating Officer of the company, said: ‘The small size of our vessels, the medical infrastructure and teams on board, our protocols and the professionalism of our crews ensured that there were no cases of Covid-19 contamination throughout the PONANT’s fleet. To prepare for the resumption of our activity, we are pleased to collaborate with Bureau Veritas to deploy this SafeGuard label highlighting the excellence of our protocols.”

Matthieu de Tugny added: ‘Restart your Business with BV’ perfectly reflects our specific role and mission as a classification society. We know PONANT and their ships very well and are very pleased to help them with their fleet reactivation.’