Following the agreement, signed in January of this year, between DGRM and the China Classification Society (CCS), the opening ceremony of the first office of the Chinese company in Portugal took place today, October 20th.

CCS is one of the largest ship classifiers in the world and the protocol established with DGRM allows it to act within the scope of the certification of ships flying the Portuguese flag.

The opening ceremony of the CCS office was chaired by the Secretary of State for the Sea, José Maria Costa, and was attended by the Director General of DGRM, José Carlos Dias Simão, the Chinese ambassador in Lisbon, Zhao Bentang, de Huang Liang, Manager of CCS Lisboa, Wang Baochun, General Manager of CCS Athens, and Pedro Rebelo de Sousa, of EISAP Portugal - European International Shipowners' Association.

The CCS Lisbon office will cover all maritime surveying services in Portugal.

It should be noted that the CCS is part of the Top 10 worldwide for Ship Classification Entities, being recognized by the European Commission to be able to conclude agreements with the Maritime Administrations of the different Member States, in the Portuguese case the DGRM.