Anastasios Angelopoulos, marine chief executive for Greece and Piraeus at Bureau Veritas (BV), will retire at the end of December after a shipping career spanning four decades, the classification society announced on Wednesday.

Angelopoulos joined BV’s Piraeus office 24 years ago. The 67-year old played a key role over the past decade in the rapid growth of its classed fleet, the Paris-based classification society said in an announcement praising the retiree’s “unconditional dedication, grace, and effectiveness”.