2 – 5 December 2025
Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), China
中国上海浦东新区龙阳路2345号, 上海新国际博览中心

Mr. Norbert Kray
Senior Vice President DNV Group
Country Chair Greater China DNV Group
Regional Manager Greater China
Maritime at DNV
DNV_logo_RGB

Moderator: Dr WANG Jinbao,
Former Chairman of ITTC Specialist Committees on Operational Performance / Deputy Director of International Exchange Committee of Shanghai Society Naval Architects and Marine Engineers

Wang: 

Mr. Norbert Kray, very nice to meet you.

On behalf of SSNAME and Informa Markets, I’d like to cordially welcome our distinguished guest, senior vice president, DNV Group, also Regional Manager of Great China Maritime at DNV.

Many thanks for your kind acceptance to our interview before the grand event with over 40 years’ glorious history Marintec China, which will be held at the beginning of this December.

 

Today. It’s my honor to this interview. This is Jingbao Wang, from SSNAME also seven years of ITTC Chairman on Operational Performance. Also senior experts on hydrodynamics of MARIC, the earliest and one of the most famous design and research institutes of China. Well, Mr Norbert Kray, at the start of this interview, would you please give us a brief account of yourself, please?

Kray:

Yeah, first of all, it’s very nice to meet you, DR Wang. And I’m very happy that you interviewed me today. So, yes, as you said, my name is Norbert Kray. I’m a trained, naval architect. I’m already working for more than 25 years in DNV, and I had many different roles in the company. I started as a surveyor, followed by several management positions in our head office in Hamburg. And later on in 2014, then I had the feeling I should do something complete new and went to Japan. I became a country manager. I was in charge for all the operations of DNV in Japan. And this I did from 2014 to end of 2017, which was really an exciting time to see and learn more about the Japanese business and and also life culture. And then in 2018, um, I was promoted to the senior vice president and also regional manager of the region Greater China, which consists of mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. And, yeah, since 2018, I’m doing this. It’s a very exciting job, and I love this job. And for sure, China, or the region itself, is a very exciting region where a lot of maritime activities are ongoing. It is still a growing business that makes life and the work really exciting. And are looking forward for a couple of years more.

Wang:

Okay, Many thanks for your brief introduction. You have a rich experience in maritime. I believe you have made great contribution to the whole industry. Well, as we know, since 1864, DNV has been one of the world-leading classification societies. And can you share with us on how does the DNV envision the future? Please.

Kray:

As you already said, DNV was established in 1864, and our purpose is to safeguarding life, property and the environment. And this purpose is still unchanged until today. And we are also continuing with this purpose because we believe this is the right purpose for a classification society. In the 1864, actually, the DNV was founded as a pure ship classification society. But today, actually, we can offer much, much more to our customers.

And we are now in many different industries. Next to maritime, we are in the business assurance. We are in energy sector, health care, digital solutions, and also a bit in the auto motive industry. And our theme, or our vision, is now to be a trusted voice to tackle global transformations. I mean, in particular, when we look at the maritime industry, there’s a lot going on. In particular, we see a big transformation of the whole industry towards digitalization and decabonization. And here, I think we can bundle our full competence of DNV to support our customers in the best possible way. And I think what is also important to say is, for sure, there’s a lot of transformation ongoing towards digitalization and decabonization what I mentioned before. On the other hand, we as a ship classification society, and we are one of the leading classification societies, we have always the ship safety on top of our agenda. And here we focus a lot on rule and tool development, and actually invest a lot of money into the competence development of our people who are the backbone of DNV.

Wang:

Thanks. Very inspiring and motivating future and you just mention, digitalization and decarbonization are really very important topics. Perhaps you can share with us more in the future. OK, Secondly, DNV initiated “Pathway to Net Zero Emissions programme” , can you tell us more of this program, and from your observation, what’s the most practical and feasible way to reach this goal? Thanks.

Kray:

Yeah, thank you for this great question, Dr. Wang. And yeah, for sure, this report Pathway to Net-Zero, I think we are all proud and DNV of this report, because this is what DNV believes is feasible, or a feasible way to reach net zero emissions by 2050. And you all know, reaching this goal is very important that we have not more than 1.5 degree Celsius more global warming by 2050, as it is laid down in the Paris agreement. I think this is a very important report, and our pathway to net zero missions shows how, and also how fast we have to decarbonize our industry. And we are looking here into nine different industries and the ten different regions, who are the ones who have to decarbonize most?

And for sure, it will also be clear from this report that some countries who are more developed, and also some industries who are more, let me say, easy to decarbonize, have to decarbonize much faster than maybe emerging or developing countries or sectors which are hard to abate. So therefore, I think this is a very important report, what DNV has produced.

And I think the report also clearly shows this is feasibility study, and it is feasible that we reach this goal from a technical but also from a political perspective. Although I have to clearly mention we need a clear policy implementation to reach this goal. And, I mean, what is also clear, what I mentioned before, this is maybe one of the major findings we have to speed up. When we look what we are doing right now, I think then we can all see it is not possible to go ahead like we are doing today. We have to speed up. And Decarbonization has to be a much quicker in the future to really come to this goal of net zero emissions by 2050. And here, I think there are some energies which are really playing in an important role. This for sure, like a methanol, bio energy, or we also look into renewable electricity. But, even if we apply all these modern technologies, this will not be enough. We also have to look a lot into carbon capture and storage. And I think this is another field that DNV, we also are looking very much into and helping the industry to decarbonize.

I think all in all, we can see there’s a massive speed, and also a massive efforts are needed to reach this goal of net zero emissions by 2050. On the other hand, I think what we have shown, is our report, this is, for sure, the DNV view, how we can reach net zero emissions by 2050. There might be other ways, for sure, too. And other maybe industries or other organizations, may have a different view. But I think from we as a more technical organization, we are looking very much into the technical feasibility for net zero emissions by 2050. And maybe only to a certain degree to the political reasons. And I think this is also important to mention the political aspect plays a very important role, which for sure, DNV cannot influence.

Nevertheless, I guess, with our report, we also like to raise awareness how important it is to speed up decarbonization. Then also, let me say the next generation can live a peaceful and good life on this planet Earth.

Wang:

Many thanks for DNV’s social accountability and responsibility. And many thanks for the enlightening and encouraging remarks of the physical and practical steps that we should take to reach the final goal of zero emission. DNV has attended Marintec China for many years. What are the highlights of your new participation at the upcoming Marintec China? Can you share with us?

Kray:

Sure, first of all, I have to say, I’m really super happy that we have, this year, the face to face a Marintec exhibition. And the big thing goes, actually, to the organizer, and SSNAME is one of the organizers, that we make this happen, or that you make this happen, and that the maritime experts and maybe also the industry leaders can meet face to face this year in Shanghai again.

And like on the each Marintec exhibition, DNV will have a booth as well this year on the exhibition. And we have selected a very nice theme from my point of view, which says, Turning Uncertainties into Confidence. As I said, this is a nice topic, in particular, when we see right now, and also what I mentioned before, there are a lot of uncertainties which are floating around. Many ship owners are really uncertain. what is the fuel for the future? How can I make my ship more efficient? And how I can optimize, maybe also the whole form of my ship? These are many, many things, and for sure also cyber security playing a more and more important role in the maritime industry. And this will be a mandatory topic from IACS even by 2025. So therefore, I guess we are very proud to have a big booth this year, again on the Marintec in Shanghai. And we will not have only a booth, we will also want us said, we will present our solutions to the industry, to our customers, and also hopefully to new customers. And we’ll have quite a number of our experts on our booth who can talk exactly about these topics, like cybersecurity, advises services, and also future fuels, so all in all I’m really looking forward to the Marintec in Shanghai.

And, uh, well, as I said, we have experts on our booths, and I think there will be many people. So I can only advise all the visitors, maybe to make even a pre- appointment with our experts, that they find sufficient time and also space to have more in depths, and maybe also some expert talks. And you will find our boots in hall N2, if I remember correctly, And I’m really looking forward to see you at our booth.

Wang:

Thank you for your very attractive slogan to Turn Uncertainty into Confidence, and we look forward to your new technologies and exhibits soon. Okay, As Marintec China is the second largest platform for marine tech and products in the maritime world, how would you describe Marintec China to someone who has never visited this grand event, please.

Kray:

So the Marintec China for sure, is one of the leading maritime exhibition globally, and it is for sure the biggest exhibition in Asia that makes it really an important exhibition for the maritime industry. And here, you can really meet the who is who of the maritime industry in China and also globally. So I really hope that a lot of experts from China and also from abroad, will come to Shanghai. And to be quite honest, I mean you can always combine the visit to the marine tech with the city view, and also to visit to Shanghai. Shanghai is one of the most vibrant metropolises in the world, and I live there already, since nearly six years now.

And it’s a great city. I like to be there. And I can only encourage people to come to Shanghai. And I do not only like to encourage the maritime experts to visit Marintec, I think it’s more important to focus on the next generation. When you see China is one of the leading, or maybe the leading shipping country globally, with a huge supply industry behind. And I think it’s important that also young people come to the Marintec and see that, the maritime industry is not an old fashioned industry, but the maritime industry is undergoing a huge transformation, which makes it really a modern and interesting industry. And I think it’s also important to show, UH, the younger generation that the maritime industry offers really interesting, exciting and also long term jobs, and I think that makes it really an attractive industry for the younger generation to.

Wang:

Okay, many thanks for your unique introduction to Marintec China and also Shanghai. I guess many people will meet in Shanghai then. Okay. MR Robert Kray, thanks a lot for your generous sharing with us your future vision, innovative technologies, highlights of your participation to the platform at the coming event. Together with introduction to the Marintech China. Wish you and DNV all the best and make more contributions to marine industry. And we are ready to warmly welcome you in Shanghai on December 7 to 10.

Kray:

Thank you. Yeah, thank you, doctor Wang. And I can only reemphasize the importance of the Marintec 2022. And, uh, I’m really looking forward to see you at December 7th to 10th at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre.

Wang:

And we look forward to seeing you at our booth at the Marintec China.

Kray:

Thank you so much.

Wang:

Okay. Thank you very much. Looking forward to meeting you then, Bye.

Kray:

Bye bye.

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