Leading classification society ClassNK received the Technical Innovation Award at Seatrade Maritime Awards Asia 2018 held at Marina Bay Sands, of Singapore on 25 April for developing and introducing its electronic certificate system to the industry. The Seatrade Maritime Awards Asia is held every year to recognize companies and individuals for their contributions to the maritime industry, ClassNK said in its press release.
The Seatrade Maritime Awards Asia distinguished panel of judges awarded ClassNK with the Technical Innovation Award for the reduction of the workload on board and at shore by minimizing potential handling errors and time-loss associated with paper burden, as well as making certificate information easier to retrieve through its “ClassNK e-Certificate”.
ClassNK e-Certificate launched in 2017 is the world-first comprehensive electronic certificate service for classification and statutory certificates. Based on the standards stipulated in IMO’s GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF ELECTRONIC CERTIFICATES (FAL.5/Circ.39/Rev.2) released in 2016, the system enables secure transmission of certificates from ship to shore and vice versa. Most importantly, the system includes an online function to determine the validity of certificates and that they have not been falsified or tampered with.
Currently, the use of ClassNK e-Certificate is approved by total of 40 flag states.