Enjoying a healthy orderbook and the recent award of quality management certification, MacGREGOR's Piraeus branch has trained hard in preparation for the Posidonia Cup which it is also sponsoring

DNV issued MacGREGOR's Piraeus branch with an ISO 9001:2000 certificate on May 15. This certificate was issued to MacGREGOR (GRC) Ltd for promotion of marine sales, ships spare parts supply, ships inspection and repair activities. ISO 9001:2000 covers quality management systems and is the requirement standard used to assess a company's ability to meet customer and applicable regulatory requirements and thereby to address customer satisfaction.

The Piraeus office is heavily engaged in service activities, and its staff of 15 includes engineers specialising in particular MacGREGOR cargo care products. "At the moment we have service orders in hand that total around u201a1.3 million," said Dimitris Manolias, branch manager. "These are for all types of ship, and range from crane spares and repairs to modernisation packages for the Hellenic Navy.

"We are very pleased to receive the ISO 9001:2000 certificate as it highlights the good relationships we have with our customers. As well as spares and repairs services, many customers are appreciating the benefits of our regular service agreements. For example, we have maintenance agreements for elevators/escalators with Superfast Ferries, Anek Lines and Hellas Flying Dolphins. On top of this work we are implementing a new product in the branch for special service vessels, for which we have an order for engineering, and another engineering contract under discussion which could be worth up to u201a1.8 million."

This workload still leaves time for some serious sailing, as the Piraeus branch is providing one of 11 crews entered in the first Posidonia Cup, which MacGREGOR is sponsoring. "At the moment we are spending many hours at sea training. We aim to win the trophy," Mr Manolias said on the day before the race.

For further information, please contact:

Mr Dimitris Manolias, Branch Manager, MacGREGOR (GRC) Ltd,
4-6 Efplias Str, GR-18537 Piraeus, Greece
Tel:+30 1 42 83 838 Fax:+30 1 42 83 839
e-mail: dimitris.manolias@macgregor-ath.com