SHIPS
CLASSIFICATION
This subject is related to
Naval Engineering
knowledge
• Ship Design
• Stability and Hydrodinamics
• Ship Structures
• Ship Machinery and Propulsion
• Shipbuilding
• Ship Inspection
• Ship Repair
CLASSIFICATION OF SHIPS
A cargo shipper requested to guarantee a maritime risk and requires some assurance that any
particular vessel is structurally fit to undertake a proposed voyage. To enable the shipper to
distinguish the good risk from the bad a system of classification has been formulated over a period of
more than 200 years.
During this period reliable organizations have been created for the initial and continuing inspection of
ships so that classification may be assessed and maintained.
Recent amendment to the requirements of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea
have required ships to which that convention applies to be designed, constructed and maintained in
compliance with the structural, mechanical and electrical requirements of a classification society which
is recognized by the flag administration or with applicable national standards of that administration
which provide an equivalent level of safety. In general flag administrations recognize specific
classification societies for this purpose rather than maintaining such national standards.
CLASSIFICATION OF SHIPS
A cargo shipper requested to guarantee a maritime risk, required some assurance that any
particular vessel is structurally fit to undertake a proposed voyage. To enable the shipper to
distinguish the good risk from the bad a system of classification has been formulated over a period
of more than 200 years.
During this period reliable organizations have been created for the initial and continuing inspection
of ships so that classification may be assessed and maintained.
Recent amendment to the requirements of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at
Sea have required ships to which that convention applies to be designed, constructed and maintained
in compliance with the structural, mechanical and electrical requirements of a classification
society which is recognized by the flag administration or with applicable national standards of that
administration which provide an equivalent level of safety.
In general flag administrations recognize specific classification societies for this purpose rather
than maintaining such national standards.
Ship classification societies set the technical and
operational standards for different kinds of ships,
carriers and offshore structures concerning their
design, construction, surveying and testing, after
which the vessels are given a class certificate.
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
CLASSIFICATION SOCIETIES (IACS)
Dedicated to safe ships and clean seas, IACS makes a unique
contribution to maritime safety and regulation through technical
support, compliance verification and research and development.
More than 90% of the world's cargo carrying tonnage is covered
by the classification design, construction and through life
compliance Rules and standards set by the eleven Member
Societies of IACS.
Whilst there are reported to be more than 50 ship classification
organizations worldwide the 11 major classification societies
that claim to class some ninety-four per cent of all commercial
tonnage involved in international trade worldwide are members
of the International Association of Classification Societies
(IACS).
IACS can trace its origins back to the International Load Line
Convention of 1930 and its recommendations.
The Convention recommended collaboration between Classification
Societies to secure “as much uniformity as possible in the application of
the standards of strength upon which freeboard is based”.
These members of IACS are:
Eleven Member Societies of IACS
Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Norway
Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (Class NK) Japan
American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) USA
Lloyds Register (LR) Great Britain
Bureau Veritas (BV) France
China Classification Society (CCS) China
Korean Register (KR) Korea
Registro Italiano Navale (RINA) Italy
Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) Russia
Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) India
Croatia Register of Shipping (CRS) Croatia
Polish Register of Shipping (PRS) Poland
Türk Loydu Classification Society Turkey
Rules and Regulations for the
Classification of Ships
Lloyds Register
Lloyds Register, is the oldest of the classification societies.
Founded in 1760 and reconstituted in 1834, Lloyds Register
was amalgamated with the British Corporation, the only other
British classification society in existence at that time, in 1949.
Ships built in accordance with Lloyds Register rules or
equivalent standards, are assigned a class in the Register Book,
and continue to be classed so long as they are maintained in
accordance with the Rules.
The LR Rules and Regulations for the Classification of Ships July 2022, includes
the following Parts:
• Part 1 Regulations
• Rules for the Manufacture, Testing and Certification of Materials (formerly
known as Part 2)
• Part 3 Ship Structures (General)
• Part 4 Ship Structures (Ship Types)
• Part 5 Main and Auxiliary Machinery
• Part 6 Control, Electrical, Refrigeration and Fire
• Part 7 Other Ship Types and Systems
• Part 8 Rules for Ice and Cold Operations
All ships classed by Lloyds Register are assigned one or more-character
symbols. The majority of ships are assigned the characters 100A1 or
100A1.
This character is assigned to all ships designed and built as per Society’s
Rules and regulations.
The character figure 100 is assigned to all ships considered suitable for
sea-going service.
The character letter A is assigned to all ships which are built in accordance
with or accepted into class as complying with the Society’s Rules and
regulations.
The character figure 1 is assigned to ships carrying on board anchor and/or
mooring equipment complying with the Society’s.
Classification symbols and
notations
The following are the
symbols used by
each IACS Member to
denote a ship
constructed under
special survey in
compliance with the
society's rules,
suitable for
unrestricted sea-
going service.
ABS class notations examples
• HSC Compliance with the rules for High Speed Craft
• AMS Compliance with the rules for machinery and equipment
• ACCU Compliance with rules for Automatic Centralized Controls
Unmaned
• CRS Compliance with Common Structural Rules (IACS)
• BWE Compliance with Guide for Ballast Water Exchange
Structural Design Programs
There is a powerful team of Marine and Offshore Structural Software applications, having the
skills to help verify ship design and operations complying with LR Rules and other industry
regulations. Incorporating sophisticated technology like Finite Element Analysis, they replace
traditional manual methods with automated digital processes.
The computer programs made available to shipyards incorporate a realistic representation of the
dynamic loads likely to be experienced by the ship and are used to determine the scantlings and
investigate the structural responses of critical areas of the ship’s structure.
Lloyds Register “Ship Right Procedures for the Design, Construction and Lifetime Care of Ships’
incorporates programs for structural design assessment (SDA) and fatigue design assessment
(FDA).
DNV
Ship Maintenance
• Coating condition
• Presence of general corrosion
• Presence of pitting or grooving
or other localized linear
corrosion
• Presence of deformation
• Presence of fractures
• Compartment or space
cleanliness (housekeeping
and fabric maintenance such
as anode replacement, etc.)
• SHIP REPAIR
• SURVEY AFTER
CONSTRUCTION
Class Periodical Surveys
• ANNUAL SURVEYS
• INTERMEDIATE SURVEYS
• DOCKING SURVEYS
• IN-WATER SURVEYS
Sources of information
• ABS. (2022). Rules and Guides. Obtained from [Link]
• ABS. (2022). Guide for Hull Inspection and Maintenance Program. Obtained from
[Link]
guides/current/survey_and_inspection/156_himp/HIMP_Guide_e-[Link]
• LR. (2022). Rules and Regulations. Obtained from [Link]
• BV Mars 200 0 (2022), [Link]
structural-assessment-software
• IACS (2022), [Link]
• ABS Class Notations and symbols (2022), [Link]
and-guides/current/generic/list_of_ABS_notations_and_symbols/class-notations-table-
[Link]
• Papanikolaou, A. (2014). Ship Design: Methodologies of Preliminary Design. Springer.
• Paul Anthony Russell, E. A. (2016). Reeds Vol 5: Ship Construction for Marine Engineers.
London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
• Richard Pemberton, E. A. (2018). Reeds Vol 4: Naval Architecture for Marine Engineers.
London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
• Wallwork, A. (2011). English for Writing Research Papers. Springer .
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THE CLASS!