BV to Launch Athens Survey Center
Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore (BV) will launch its latest Remote Inspection Technique (RIT) center in Athens, Greece, during a Digital Solutions Seminar at Posidonia 2026.
The event – How Bureau Veritas Digital Solutions Reduce Risk, Lower Cost & Enhance Asset Value – will bring together industry leaders to explore how digitalization is reshaping risk management, operational performance, and supporting asset values across shipping.
The new Athens RIT center – which joins a network that has grown from five qualified surveyors in early 2025 to more than 15 across approximately seven global centers – highlights BV's commitment to equipping shipowners and operators with data-driven tools as they navigate mounting regulatory and commercial pressures. BV plans to expand its RIT network to 16 centers with over 40 qualified surveyors by the end of 2026.
"The expansion of our RIT network into Athens reflects both the maturity of the technology and the strategic importance of Greece to international shipping," said Alex Gregg-Smith, President, Bureau Veritas, Marine and Offshore. "Each of our RIT surveyors is a subject-matter expert for a specific vessel type, and the combined approach of using AI to analyze drone-collected imagery before the surveyor validates the findings gives owners and operators a genuinely robust, two-stage quality-assurance process. As shipping faces greater scrutiny from lenders, charterers, and regulators, our role is evolving from compliance referee to data-driven risk partner. We see the offshore sector’s current trajectory – where drone-assisted inspection is already becoming mandated for high-risk activities – as a strong indication of where sea-going vessel inspection is heading."
