Page 29 - Introduction to Naval Architecture

DEFINITION AND REGULATION 17

Classification societies
There are many classification societies around the world including the
American Bureau of Shipping of the USA, Bureau Veritas of France,
Det Norske Veritas of Norway, Germanischer Lloyd of Germany,
Nippon Kaiji Kyokai of Japan and Registro Italiano Navale of Italy. The
work of the classification societies is exemplified by Lloyd's Register (LR)
of London which was founded in 1760 and is the oldest society. It
classes some 6700 ships totalling about 96 million in gross tonnage.
When a ship is built to LR class it must meet the requirements laid
down by the society for design and build. LR demands that the
materials, structure, machinery and equipment are of the required
quality. Construction is surveyed to ensure proper standards of
workmanship are adhered to. Later in life, if the ship is to retain its
class, it must be surveyed at regular intervals. The scope and depth of
these surveys reflect the age and service of the ship. Thus, through
classification, standards of safety, quality and reliability are set and
maintained. Classification applies to ships and floating structures
extending to machinery and equipment such as propulsion systems,
liquefied gas containment systems and so on.
Lloyd's is international in character and is independent of govern-
ment but has delegated powers to carry out many of the statutory
functions mentioned earlier. Lloyd's carry out surveys and certification
on behalf of more than 130 national administrations. They carry out
statutory surveys covering the international conventions on load lines,
cargo ship construction, safety equipment, pollution prevention, grain
loading, etc., and issue International Load Line Certificates, Passenger
Ship Safety Certificates and so on. The actual registering of ships is
carried out by the government organization. Naturally owners find it
easier to arrange registration of their ships with a government, and to
get insurance cover, if the ship has been built and maintained in
accordance with the rules of a classification society. The classification
societies co-operate through the International Association of Classification
Societies (IACS).
Lloyd's Register must not be confused with Lloyd's of London, the
international insurance market, which is a quite separate organization
although it had similar origins.

SUMMARY

It has been seen how a ship's principal geometric features can be
defined and characterized. It will be shown in the next chapter how the
parameters can be calculated and they will be called into use in later