The national ship classification society, Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) and a leading French classification society, Bureau Veritas (BV), have entered into a co-operation agreement. The agreement was signed on on October 6 by J C Anand of IRS and the BV president Bernard Renard.
The agreement provides for achieving the highest form of classification taking into account the interest of shipowners, shipbuilders, underwriters and other parties involved in the classification of ships.
The pact goes beyond the existing dual class agreements and includes all activities relating to classification during construction and conversion of ships and other marine structures as required by international conventions.
The agreement will help IRS in meeting the IMO resolution A 739 (18) and will enable it to have a global representation as required and provide more consistent and dependable service to single ships round the world.
It also provides for the training of IRS surveyors by BV. Renard stated that the new regulations such as ISM and bulk carrier enhanced survey programme required heavy investment from classification societies in training methodology, facilities and surveyors time. In 1996, BV spent more than seven per cent of its turnover on the training of its surveyors and R&D activities.
BV has also invested over $ 30 million on providing new information systems to its surveyors world wide.
