In the occasion of SMM 2012 eight ships, comprising of five container[ds_preview] carriers including one Panamax-sized vessel, and three Capesize bulk carriers from the German companies RHL Reederei Hamburger Lloyd, BF Shipmanagement and Johann M. K. Blumenthal, were officially transferred to the Japanese classification society ClassNK. The signing ceremony marked the success of the decision last November to establish a new section of the society’s survey department in Hamburg with senior staff from Tokyo.
This was the first time the society had placed head office management staff and functions outside of Japan, greatly strengthening ClassNK’s presence in Hamburg where it has been active for three decades. »It gives me great pride to say that we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the opening of our office here in Hamburg this year,« Chairman and President Noboru Ueda said. ClassNK currently operates a network of 98 offices outside Japan and the 22 offices opened since Ueda became Chairman comprise 25 % of its entire global service network. Over this period the register has grown by more than 50 mill. GT, or approximately 25 % of the society’s total register.
Since the establishment of the new department in Hamburg German shipowners have transferred approximately 20 vessels totalling about 1 mill. GT to ClassNK. According to IHS Fairplay data, ClassNK is both the leading classification society for bulk carriers with nearly three times as many bulk carriers on its register as the next IACS member society, and is also the leading class society in IACS for tankers and second for container carriers in terms of ship numbers. End of May this year it has passed the mark of 200 mill. GT.
Founded in 1899, the growth of ClassNK’s register has steadily accelerated over the years. The 100 mill. GT mark was broken nearly hundred years later in 1997, before becoming the world’s largest classification society in 1999. Just ten years later, ClassNK became the first class society to exceed 150 mill. GT on its register in 2007. As of end of May 2012, the class register accounts for 7,847 ships totalling 200,804,781 GT. As ClassNK’s register surpassed more than 190 mill. GT at the end of September 2011, some 10 mill. GT have joined the Tokyo-based class society’s register in just past eight months before.
