Major classification societies in the world
Classification societies, also known as ship surveying agencies, establish relevant technical standards for ships and shipping equipment, and use measures such as shipbuilding supervision and regular inspections to ensure that navigation equipment meets its specifications. At present, various countries around the world have successively established ship surveying agencies, and the following classification societies are the most well-known.
- LR (Lloyd’s Register of Shipping)
LR is an old international classification society. Its inspection business covers various fields such as ships, marine engineering, marine products, information work, and quality system certification. The number of ships classified under LR has dropped from the first in the world in 2000 to the second in the world currently, with a total tonnage of approximately 100 million gross tons.
- DNV (Det Norske Veritas)
DNV specializes in the inspection of ships and offshore engineering technology. Its business has involved ship and ocean engineering inspection and scientific research, software development, risk assessment, quality system audits, quality assurance of industrial facilities, etc.
GL (Germanischer Lloyd)
Since GL was founded in 1875, the German government has actively supported its business development, and it has also received attention as a specialized technical agency of the federal government.
BV (Bureau Veritas)
Bureau Veritas’ business is the most extensive among IACS members and has the strongest economic strength, involving many fields such as ships, ocean engineering, products, aircraft, spacecraft, construction, municipal engineering, pharmaceuticals, etc.
RINA (Register Italiano Navale)
RINA has two types of business: one is the traditional ship inspection business, that is, the inspection of ships, marine engineering, and marine products in accordance with the law; the other is the existing ship condition assessment and industrial service business.
ABS (American Bureau of Shipping)
The outstanding feature of ABS is that it carries out the inspection business of small and medium-sized combat ships and military auxiliary ships of the United States Navy. So far, ABS’s business scope involves inspection services such as ships, marine engineering, boilers and pressure vessels, petrochemical industry, power station power facilities, railway and port facilities, marine equipment and containers. At the same time, it has also carried out inspection services around IS09000 and 14000. , 18000 and other aspects of certification work.
CCS (China Classification Society)
China Classification Society was established in 1956. It regards risk management as the basic attribute of its business and mainly conducts business around the three main business lines of classification ship inspection, domestic ship inspection and industrial services.