Class NK grows globally and expands in US

The Tokyo-based class society says that the growth was driven by newbuilding registrations, coinciding with a peak in newbuilding deliveries worldwide. Additionally, registrations of vessels transferred to NK from other class societies amounted to 272 vessels totalling 5.4 million gt, more than 28% in terms of ship numbers and 21% of gross tonnage registered by the society in 2012. This too marks a new record for ClassNK, which claims to be the largest international class society.

At the same time ClassNK has been given expanded authorization from the United States Coast Guard (USCG) which enables it to carry out a full range of surveys for the SOLAS, MARPOL and AFS conventions, as well as ISM Audits on behalf of the US flag administration. This means that ClassNK is now authorised to carry out statutory surveys on behalf of 106 flag administrations.

ClassNK has been present in the US since 1962, mainly focusing on international ocean-going US shipping. In order to address growing demand from domestic shipping lines, ClassNK began working with the USCG to expand its authorisation to cover US flag vessels and earned USCG authorisation to carry out certification for the load line (LL) and tonnage measurement conventions (TM69) in 2011. The expansion of recognition by USCG makes it possible for ClassNK to issue certifications for US flagged vessels in every part of the industry.

ClassNK chairman and president Noboru Ueda said: “At ClassNK we have served the American blue water shipping community for more than 50 years now, but with this authorization from the USCG we will now be able to greatly expand our operations to include coastal, gulf, and inland shipping, as well as the growing offshore energy and wind sectors.”