Indian Register of Shipping expands footprint abroad

Indian Register of Shipping, a Mumbai-based globally recognised ship classification society, is building expertise for LNG projects in India and expanding its footprint in the Middle East, South East Asia, Africa and the EU.
"We are in the process of setting up offices in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Alexandria and Teheran and getting recognition in Egypt, Oman, Nigeria, Lebanon and the European Union," its Chief Operating Officer C Sriramamurthy said.
It is also building expertise for LNG projects in the country.
"We have a target to expand our tonnage to 20 million by 2020 from 11 million tons now, build capacity in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) sector and set up new offices abroad," he said at the Asia Pacific Maritime (APM) conference and exhibition held in Singapore this week.

IRClass, focuses on India's defence, offshore marine and oil & gas sectors, is further strengthening services for inspection, and surveying of subsea projects in the oil & gas sector and for LNG terminals and ships.
Sriramamurthy highlighted the increasing volume of work of leading energy groups like Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and LNG importer GAIL.

"It is keeping up with the latest technology and software systems to handle ONGC and GAIL projects as well as international corporations," said Suresh Sinha, Chief Surveyor & Head of Operations at IRClass.
Its international clients include the Singapore-based Kreuz Subsea, which specialises in installation of oil & gas projects using specialised vessels.

"IRClass' services are recognised in 28 countries, with two more being added immediately," said Sinha. It invests over 5 per cent of its annual revenue on research & development.
"We must have our own technical expertise and software systems to participate in all kind of projects," he said.
IRClass, a non-profit organisation, was among the 1,500 global firms exhibiting at the APM which concluded today.