Classification society

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A classification society is a company that acts as an expert in shipbuilding .

tasks

Classification societies create technical guidelines for the design and construction of ships and issue them as building regulations. Building regulations contain, for example, strength calculations for the design and dimensioning of shipbuilding structures.

Classification societies monitor and document compliance with these guidelines when building a new ship and then assign it a so-called class. The class is an assessment of seaworthiness and is the basis for ship and cargo insurance as well as for trading ships.

The surveyors of the classification society check the condition of the ships they supervise at regular intervals during the ship's operating life. Such tests include the assessment of the ship's hull and all parts essential for ship operation, such as the engine and other technical equipment. A major class renewal is carried out every five years, during which the ship is docked . A detailed examination of the outer skin of the entire underwater hull, the rudder , propeller , bow thruster , sea ​​valves and sea ​​chests is carried out here . Based on the state of preservation, a decision is made whether the class of the ship is to be retained, downgraded or withdrawn. A classification society could therefore be casually referred to as “ship TÜV ”, but its area of ​​responsibility goes far beyond this with the offer of comprehensive technical support and its own research.

Classification societies not only certify ships, but also offshore constructions , which can be compared with test statics in the construction industry. Classification societies operate research departments in order to keep their knowledge and experience at a high level and up-to-date as technical developments progress.

In principle, a shipping company is not obliged to have its ship classified, but it is severely restricted in the operation of an unclassified ship, as only a few countries accept unclassified ships in their territorial waters . Ships without a classification certificate are not tolerated in European territorial waters or ports .

history

At the beginning of sea ​​trade , the reputation of the shipbuilder and the captain as well as the personal inspection of the ship by the merchants were decisive for the assessment of the quality of the ships. However, it was difficult for the merchants to correctly assess the quality of the ships; after all, they weren't shipbuilders. In addition, there were no uniform standards for comparing the ships , so that the ship owners and underwriters strongly advocated the establishment of classification societies that should classify and assess the ships. So it happened that the ship's data were recorded in registers by objective assessors who served to compare the ships. They contained information about equipment, cargo volume and owner. Damages and defects were also recorded, which caused the insurance premiums to rise depending on the extent, if insurers were found at all for larger damages.

The first classification society was founded in 1760, namely the British company Lloyd's Register of Shipping . At that time there was a "coffee house" owned by the Welsh Edward Lloyd in the City of London . This “coffee house” was the meeting point for ship owners, brokers and merchants to find out more about trade, shipping and their operators. This was the nucleus of today's oldest classification society. Bit by bit, some shipowners and shipyard owners joined together in a company with the aim of improving understanding and the exchange of information between the two parties “manufacturer” and “buyer”. In addition, it was very important to the shipowners to create an institution that is professionally capable of evaluating ships, on the basis of which policies can then be drawn up for the ships by the insurance companies.

Classification societies were later founded in other countries based on the model of Lloyd's Register:

  • 1828 - Bureau Veritas, Antwerp (from 1832 in Paris )
  • 1855 - Nederlandsche Vereeniging van Assurandeuren, Amsterdam
  • 1858 - American Lloyd's Registry of American and Foreign Shipping, New York
  • 1858 - Veritas Austro-Ungarico, Trieste
  • 1861 - Registro Italiano, Genoa
  • 1861 - Registre Maritime, Bordeaux
  • 1862 - Underwriters Registry for Iron Vessels, Liverpool
  • 1864 - Det Norske Veritas, Oslo
  • 1867 - Germanischer Lloyd, Rostock (from 1872 in Berlin , from 1950 in Hamburg )
  • 1867 - American Lloyd's Universal Standard Record of Shipping
  • 1870 - Veritas Hellénique, Athens
  • 1874 - Register of Australian and New Zealand Shipping, Melbourne
  • 1890 - British Corporation for the Survey and Registry of Shipping, Glasgow
  • 1896 - American Bureau of Shipping, New York
  • 1899 - Nippon Kaiji Kyōkai, Tokyo
  • 1926 - Soyusa SSR Register, Leningrad
  • 1936 - Polski Rejestr Statków, Gdańsk
  • 1948 - Ceskolovensky Lodni Registr, Prague
  • 1949 - Jugoslovenski Registar Brodova, Split
  • 1950 - GDR ship revision and classification, Zeuthen
  • 1955 - Bulgarski Koraben Register, Varna

Today there are twelve internationally recognized classification societies worldwide:

These classification societies are united in the umbrella organization International Association of Classification Societies (IACS). There are also around 30 other classification societies.

The Polish classification society Polski Rejestr Statków (PRS) was temporarily excluded from the IACS umbrella organization because it no longer met the internationally sought-after quality standard.

There are also other classification societies, some of which operate regionally, which are not members of the IACS. These include:

The classification society by which a certain ship is classified can be seen from the freeboard mark , which is affixed to the hull halfway along the ship's length. For example, ships classified by Germanischer Lloyd are labeled with "GL".

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