Arun Sharma, Executive Chairman of the Indian Register of Shipping (IRClass), has been elected as the new Chairman of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) in a recent Council meeting held in Busan, Korea.
Sharma took over as Chair on July 1st and has outlined his key priorities during his year long tenure which includes IACS to take a larger role in industry matters with a view to provide value added services to owners on the implementation of regulatory requirements.
He stressed on the need to continuously strengthen the systems within IACS towards maintaining and enhancing quality operations. He is also keen to enhance interaction with stakeholders towards affirming its relevance to the industry.
Sharma highlighted that IACS recognizes the importance of good data in decision-making to guide its policy decisions and work has commenced on the formulation of IACS data driven policy.
Sharma spoke with Maritime Reporter TV recently in Oslo at the Norshipping 2019, discussing the evolution of IRClass as well as his goals for IACS under his leadership.