Classification Society, Shipping Register

Classification Societies and Shipping Registries

-The classification societies are responsible for classifying ships. A ship must be classified before it can sail for the merchant navy and before it can be insured along with its cargo.

-A classification society is a non-governmental organization that establishes and maintains technical standards for the construction and operation of ships and offshore structures. The society will also validate that construction is according to these standards and carry out regular surveys in service to ensure compliance with the standards.

List of Classification Societies

Name	Abbr	Date	Head office	IACS	EMSA
Lloyd’s Register of Shipping	LR	1760	London	x	x
Bureau Veritas	BV	1828	Paris	x	x
Registro Italiano Navale	RINA	1861	Genoa	x	x
American Bureau of Shipping	ABS	1862	Houston	x	x
Det Norske Veritas	DNV	1864	Oslo	x	x
Germanischer Lloyd	GL	1867	Hamburg	x	x
Nippon Kaiji Kyokai	NKK	1899	Tokyo	x	x
Russian Maritime Register of Shipping	RS	1913	Saint Petersburg	x	x
Hellenic Register of Shipping	HR	1919	Piraeus	–	x
Polish Register of Shipping	PRS	1936	Gdansk	–	x
Croatian Register of Shipping	CRS	1949	Split	–	–
China Corporation Register of Shipping	CR	1951	Taipei	–	–
China Classification Society	CCS	1956	Beijing	x	x
Korean Register of Shipping	KR	1960	Daejeon	x	x
Turk Loydu	TL	1962	Istanbul	–	–
Biro Klasifikasi Indonesia	BKI	1964	Jakarta	–	–
Registo Internacional Naval	RINAVE	1973	Lisbon	–	x
Indian Register of Shipping	IRS	1975	Mumbai	x	–
International Naval Surveys Bureau	INSB	1977	Piraeus	–	–
Asia Classification Society	ACS	1980	Tehran	–	–
Brazilian Register of Shipping	RBNA	1982	Rio de Janeiro	–	–
International Register of Shipping	IROS	1993	Miami	–	–
Ships Classification Malaysia	SCM	1994	Shah Alam	–	–
Dromon Bureau of Shipping	DBS	2003	–	–	–
Iranian Classification Society	ICS	2007	Tehran	–	–