Indian Register of Shipping expands local ops

Indian Register of Shipping, a Mumbai-based globally recognised ship classification society has started its next phase of expansion in India after strengthening its footprint in major maritime centres abroad.

"We are working with Inland Waterway Transportation Authority (IWTA) on a number of projects which include Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) fuelled vessels and fuelling stations within the National Waterway 1 project on Ganga," said Arun Sharma, Executive Chairman of Indian Register of Shipping (IR Class) at the Sea Asia 2017, a premier maritime conference on Thursday. For India, it has drafted guidelines for operation of LNG vessels and is working out a number of programmes to support development of port-related facilities. IR Class also has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bureau Veritas for tapping into their LNG expertise for LNG-fuelled vessels which will be increasingly used within ports in the country.

"This puts IR Class in new businesses relating to LNG," said Sharma, highlighting the mega developments being planned along the waterways and main coastal areas.

India has planned out 12 major ports and 400 minor ports, where IR Class services will be required in certifying facilities such as oil terminals, bunkering, cargo transfers and cranes operations among others. IR Class is also working with the Shipping Ministry to set up a Centre of Excellence which will develop skill for the marine industry, shipbuilding, ship designs and other related services.

IR Class has increased its services in classifying ship breaking yards in India and Bangladesh.

These yards are certified in their practices to meet European standards and account for 75 per cent of the world s ship breaking industry, said Sharma. IR Class is also doing monitoring, reporting and verification of Carbon dioxide emission from vessels based on standards required in European Union.