IR Class increases classifications for ships, ports and vessels.

Indian Register of Shipping, or IR Class, is expanding along with the Indian marine and coastal development, focusing on niche markets covering small ships, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and port facilities, said executive chairman Arun Sharma.

He pointed out the 12 major ports and 400 minor port development, development of inland waterways for transportation sector as well as increasing focus on LNG-fuelled ships.

“We are working with Inland Waterway Transportation Authority (IWTA) on a number of projects which include LNG-fuelled vessels and fueling stations within the National Waterway 1 (NW-1) project along the Ganga river,” Sharma said on 28 April at the SEA Asia 2017 held in Singapore.

IR Class has already drafted guidelines for operation of LNG vessels.

The globally recognized ship classification society also has a Memorandum of Understanding with Bureau Veritas for LNG expertise as India increases the use of LNG-fuelled vessels.

“This puts IR Class in new businesses relating to LNG,” said Sharma.

IR Class is working with the Shipping Ministry to set up a Centre of Excellence to develop skill for the marine industry, shipbuilding, ship designs and other related services.

Siemens of Germany is contributing its expertise as well as equipment and software for the Centre to be managed by IR Class.

In other businesses, IR Class has classified shipbreaking yards in India and Bangladesh. Yards in these two countries account for 75% of the global shipbreaking industry volume.

It is also monitoring, reporting and verifying CO2 emissions from vessels and facilities to standards set by the European Union.

IR Class’s global footprint is covered through 48 offices, 24 of which are outside India. fii-news.com