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Bureau Veritas has, with its Verifuel program, become the first marine fuel testing and inspection organisation to become a Green Award incentive provider.

Dimitrios Mattheou, chairman of the Green Award Foundation and Jan Fransen, executive director of the Green Award Foundation, welcomed Bureau Veritas - VeriFuel to the Green Award program with a commencement ceremony held in Athens, Greece, on July 1st.

The Green Award certification program is operated by The Green Award Foundation, an independent not-for-profit quality assurance organization that certifies shipping companies and vessels that go beyond the industry standards in terms of safety, quality and the environmental performance. Green Award certifies ships that are extra clean and extra safe, allowing certificate holders to reap various financial and non-financial benefits, now including a 5% discount on fuel quality testing and on bunker surveys, and a 15% discount in all fuel-related training courses from VeriFuel.

"The VeriFuel team provides expert opinion in regards to complying with quality specifications, environmental regulations and other legal requirements by the most enhanced testing scope, offering vessels a safer operation," said Bill Stamatopoulos, Business Development Manager, Bureau Veritas - VeriFuel.

VeriFuel is Bureau Veritas's fuel management program, which is designed for the marine industry, providing residual and distillate marine fuel quality assessments, advisory reports and expert opinion to improve the fuel management of its clients.

"Furthermore," continued Stamatopoulos, "we have minimized waste in our laboratories and offices and provide a paperless environment for the vessel, and the biggest sampling kits for fewer dispatches to reduce CO2 emissions. Our customers can also utilize local laboratories for testing to avoid air freight of fuel samples."