The
American Bureau of Shipping (
ABS) is a
classification societyA classification society is a non-governmental organization that establishes and maintains technical standards for the construction and operation of ships and offshore structures...
, with a mission to promote the security of life, property and the natural environment, primarily through the development and verification of standards for the design, construction and operational maintenance of marine-related facilities. At the end of 2006, ABS was the third largest
class societyA classification society is a non-governmental organization that establishes and maintains technical standards for the construction and operation of ships and offshore structures...
with a classed fleet of over 10,000 commercial
vesselsSince the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...
and
offshore facilitiesAn oil platform, also referred to as an offshore platform or, somewhat incorrectly, oil rig, is a lаrge structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing...
.
ABS' core service is the provision of classification services through the development of standards called ABS Rules. These Rules form the basis for assessing the design and construction of new vessels and the integrity of existing vessels and marine structures.
History
ABS was first chartered in the state of
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1862, to certify ship captains. It has been involved in the development and improvement of safety standards. Born out of a need for industry self-regulation, ABS published its first technical standards, Rules for Survey and Classing Wooden Vessels, in 1870. When the era of wooden ships gave way to iron, ABS established standards for these structures, published as Rules for Survey and Classing of Iron Vessels. Similarly, when iron gave way to steel, ABS Rules for Building and Classing Steel Vessels were established and published in 1890. These Steel Vessel Rules continue to be revised and published annually.
Organization and management
A tax-exempt non-governmental organization (NGO), ABS has been commissioned by the US government and the
US Coast GuardThe United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
to act in many maritime matters that relate directly to the safety of life and property at sea. ABS also supplies similar services on behalf of more than 100 maritime flag States globally. But, by far, the largest body of ABS work comes from fleet owners themselves who contract with ABS for its expertise in classification work. ABS is a not-for-profit corporation that has no capital stock and pays no dividends. All funds generated from fees for classification services are used solely for the performance of such services. A surplus of receipts in any one year is used for the extension and improvement of services, including research and development.
ABS is led by Chairman Robert Somerville and is parent to the ABS Group of Companies, a for-profit subsidiary supplying risk assessment and management systems services for marine and industrial clients.
The world headquarters as well as the ABS Americas Division headquarters for ABS are located in Houston, Texas, USA. The divisional headquarters for Europe is located in London and the divisional headquarters for Asia Pacific is located in Singapore.
ABS has more than 3,300 employees worldwide and is broadly divided into two groups: Engineering review and Surveying. ABS Engineers work in office buildings in Houston,
Hong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
,
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
,
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
,
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
,
BusanBusan , formerly spelled Pusan is South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, with a population of around 3.6 million. The Metropolitan area population is 4,399,515 as of 2010. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth largest port in the world...
,
Yokohamais the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
and other cities. Surveyors are employed in ports and shipyards worldwide to verify that ships are built according to the drawings.
ABS is accorded not-for-profit status by the US Government for its classification activities, which comprise the bulk of ABS activities. Other activities are carried out through operating subsidiaries of the wholly owned for-profit affiliate of ABS, the ABS Group of Companies Inc.
Classification
The responsibility of the classification society is to verify that merchant ships and marine structures presented to it comply with Rules that the society has established for design, construction and periodic survey. Classification itself does not judge the economic viability of a vessel. Neither is the society in a position to judge whether a vessel is ultimately employed according to the stated intended purpose for which it was classed. The classification society records, reports and recommends in accordance with what it has seen at the time of a vessel’s construction and subsequent surveys. If a vessel is found not to comply with the Rules, and the recommendations of ABS are not followed, then the society will suspend or cancel classification.
Rules are derived from principles of naval architecture, marine engineering and associated disciplines. A new Rule, or a proposed change to an existing Rule, originates with one of the ABS technical committees, from in-service experience, from a new IACS Unified Requirement or from the ongoing research conducted by the technology staff at ABS. Research projects are conducted either directly by ABS or are undertaken jointly with industry, with academic and governmental organizations or with other appropriate partners to best draw on the most qualified sources available.
When an owner first requests that a vessel or structure be classed, the shipyard or design agent presents drawings and calculations to ABS for a systematic detailed review for compliance with the Rules. ABS engineers review the plans to verify that the structural and mechanical details conform to the Rule requirements.
After a design has been approved by ABS engineers, ABS field surveyors attend the vessel at the shipyard from keel laying to delivery.The surveyors verify that the approved plans are followed and the Rules are adhered to. During the construction of a vessel built to ABS class, surveyors witness, at the place of manufacture or fabrication, the tests of materials for the hull and certain items of machinery as required by the Rules. They also survey the building, installation and testing of the structural and principal mechanical and electrical systems.
When completed, a vessel undergoes sea trials attended by an ABS field surveyor. The vessel is then presented to the ABS Classification Committee which assesses the vessel’s compliance with the Rules based on the collective experience of the Committee members and recommendations from the ABS staff. The Classification Committee is composed of ABS Members drawn from the maritime industry, United States Coast Guard and ABS officers. When accepted by the Committee, formal certification is issued to the vessel. The vessel’s classification information, characteristics and other particulars are then entered into the ABS Record – the electronic register of vessels classed by ABS maintained and updated on the ABS web site.
ABS Rules require that every classed vessel be subject to periodic surveys to determine whether it is maintained in accordance with classification standards. Surveys are based on a five-year cycle of Annual Surveys, an Intermediate Survey to be completed between the second and third years of the five-year period, and a comprehensive Special Survey including dry docking at each fifth anniversary from the time of the vessel’s delivery.
Certification
ABS also offers certification to specified standards. Whereas classification requires periodic surveys of the classed vessel or offshore unit throughout its life, certification
verifies that the item conforms to designated standards at a specified time. Certification can establish compliance with ABS, national, international, industry or other standards.
Offshore & Energy Services
ABS also develops standards for the design, construction and operational maintenance of
offshore drillingOffshore drilling refers to a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled through the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently produce hydrocarbons which lie in rock formations beneath the seabed...
and production units and for gas carriers of all types. These standards cover mobile offshore drilling units (such as jackup rigs, semisubmersible rigs, and drill ships), floating offshore production installations (spars, tension leg platforms, semisubmersibles and FPSOs/FSOs), fixed offshore installations, pipelines, risers, and single point moorings.
Statutory Services
ABS also acts as a Recognized Organization on behalf of more than 100 governments. A Recognized Organization is authorized by a flag State to conduct plan review and statutory surveys on ships registered under that flag on behalf of the nation’s maritime administration. Typical regulations include the U.S.
Code of Federal RegulationsThe Code of Federal Regulations is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government of the United States.The CFR is published by the Office of the Federal Register, an agency...
(CFR),
SOLASThe International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea is an international maritime safety treaty. The SOLAS Convention in its successive forms is generally regarded as the most important of all international treaties concerning the safety of merchant ships.- History :The first version of the...
, MARPOL regulations, and the
Load LineThe term "waterline" generally refers to the line where the hull of a ship meets the water surface. It is also the name of a special marking, also known as the national Load Line or Plimsoll Line, to be positioned amidships, that indicates the draft of the ship and the legal limit to which a ship...
Convention. In addition to the national or international tonnage certificates, Panama and Suez Canal tonnage certificates can be issued by ABS on behalf of those authorities.
Naval Vessel Standards
The ABS Rules for Building and Classing Naval Vessels are developed for naval vessels. The standards address the bulk of hull, mechanical, electrical, environmental and safety related criteria for the vessels.
The Naval Vessel Rules have restricted distribution, unlike the other ABS Rules and Guides which are available for download or hardcopy purchase.
Prestige Oil Spill
The
Prestige was an
oil tankerAn oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a merchant ship designed for the bulk transport of oil. There are two basic types of oil tankers: the crude tanker and the product tanker. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries...
whose sinking in 2002 off the Galician coast caused a large
oil spillAn oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is mostly used to describe marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters...
. The spill polluted thousands of kilometers of coastline and more than one thousand
beachA beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
es on the
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and
FrenchThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
coast, as well as causing great damage to the local
fishing industryFishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
.
For the world maritime industry, a key issue raised by the Prestige incident was whether classification societies can be held responsible for the consequences of incidents of this type. In May 2003, the Kingdom of Spain brought civil suit in the Southern District of New York against the American Bureau of Shipping, that had certified the Prestige as "in class" for its final voyage. The "in class" status states that the vessel is in compliance with all applicable rules and laws, not that it is or is not safe.
On 02 January 2007, the docket in that lawsuit (SDNY 03-cv-03573) was dismissed. The presiding judge ruled that ABS is a "person" as defined by the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (CLC) and, as such, is exempt from direct liability for pollution damage. Additionally, the Judge ruled that, since the United States is not a signatory to the International CLC, the US Courts lack the necessary jurisdiction to adjudicate the case. Spain's original damage claim against ABS was some $700 million.
Spain appealed, and the appellate court returned the case to the originating District Court. The resulting New York ruling, released in August 2010, held that there was no existing precedent to assign a duty on behalf of the coastal state.
See also
- Classification Society
A classification society is a non-governmental organization that establishes and maintains technical standards for the construction and operation of ships and offshore structures...
- International Association of Classification Societies
The International Association of Classification Societies is a technically-based organization consisting of thirteen marine classification societies headquartered in London.-History:...
- Prestige oil spill
The Prestige oil spill was an oil spill off the coast of Galicia caused by the sinking of an oil tanker in 2002. The spill polluted thousands of kilometers of coastline and more than one thousand beaches on the Spanish, French and Portuguese coast, as well as causing great harm to the local fishing...
- Type Approval
Type Approval is granted to a product that meets a minimum set of regulatory, technical and safety requirements. Generally, type approval is required before a product is allowed to be sold in a particular country, so the requirements for a given product will vary around the world...
External links