President of RINA Resigns, Possible Consequence of Costa Concordia Incident

President of RINA, Gianni Scerni, has resigned. RINA, the Italian Naval Register, is the classification society that issued the Costa Concordia a certificate of seaworthiness and safety management certificate in November 2011, according to Equasis.

As the death toll from the cruise ship sinking climbs, Scerni has announced his decision to resign from the company.  This may be an attempt to soothe the controversy surrounding the lack of control on board the Costa ship and the questions regarding its classification status.

Reports from Genova, Italy state that after chairing and growing RINA for the past 10 years, the president and director has made this “immediate and irrevocable” decision. The Rina group has released a statement stating their deep regret of the decision, as well as sincere thanks for his dedication and responsibility, especially involving the current situation with the Concordia. 

As of Friday, January 13th, 2012, RINA has suspended the ship's class status citing other circumstances as the reason. This may be in accordance to the vessel's physical status due to its sinking. Current class status documentation of the Concordia can be viewed here.