When Ponant resumes service, the company will be benefiting from Bureau Veritas’ (BV) ‘Restart your Business’ suite of solutions and the ‘Safeguard’ label developed for passenger ships.

BV said it has been working with Ponant and its fleet of 11 ships, combining state-of-the-art technology and respect for the environment, to implement effective infection prevention measures.

Restart your Business with BV for passenger ships meets the specific requirements of this market addressing biological risks, as posed by COVID-19 and other infections, BV said in a prepared statement. The program provides procedures and measures to protect passengers, company personnel, and other stakeholders as operations are resumed, helping ensure that appropriate health and safety standards are put in place.

Matthieu de Tugny, executive vice president BV Marine & Offshore, commented: “Bureau Veritas has been working across many industries to help develop new standards both with and for clients, in order to provide assurance to stakeholders and regulators that the risks of infection are being mitigated effectively. This service developed for passenger ships includes a framework of standards and best practices. Compliance with which is demonstrated by our new Bureau Veritas label, SafeGuard.

“The intention is that the label is visible and helps provide confidence to all onboard and in related operations ashore.”

The SafeGuard label is awarded when it can be satisfactorily certified that the operator has addressed health, safety and hygiene requirements, has properly implemented necessary procedures, has trained the crew and all employees on board and has, as well, agreed procedures with ports and terminals for port operations.

Speaking on behalf of PONANT, Frédéric Gallois, chief operating officer, said: “The small size of our vessels, the medical infrastructure, and teams onboard, our protocols and the professionalism of our crews ensured that there were no cases of COVID-19 contamination throughout the PONANT fleet. To prepare for the resumption of our activity, we are pleased to collaborate with Bureau Veritas to deploy this SafeGuard label, highlighting the excellence of our protocols.”