Safety and Quality for Russian Vessels

Being the first foreign society authorised to perform statutory duties on ships operating under Russian flag, Germanischer Lloyd (GL) becomes more and more present in Russia

Within the next 15 years, the Russian government intends to build up its shipbuilding capacity to rank among the top 10 shipbuilding nations in the world. The country is aiming high, but the starting position for this endeavour is good: Russia is the world’s second biggest exporter of oil and home to some of the world’s largest gas reserves.

The growth of the Russian economy is fully connected to the oil and gas market. Therefore, the Russian government announced a major shipbuilding programme, mostly for vessels supporting the oil and gas industry such as offshore vessels, offshore platforms and, of course, tankers. The country possesses the technical competence – what has historically been lacking is investment and infrastructure. But Russia is narrowing the gap with its competitors in terms of quality and schedule reliability, according to Guido Försterling, Germanischer Lloyd’s Country Manager, who oversees the classification society’s Russian operations from St. Petersburg: “High-tech tools and machinery are missing in some cases, but they make up for it through solid workmanship”.

Milestone: Russia authorizes GL

It was in December 2007, when Germanischer Lloyd has become the first foreign classification society authorised to perform statutory duties on ships operating under Russian flag. This was a milestone achievement. The authorisation comprises surveys, plan approval and issuance of certificates for international conventions such as Safety of life at sea (SOLAS, including International Safety Management), Load Line, Colreg, Tonnage as well as MARPOL Annex I, II and IV. Concrete negotiations had been conducted for about half a year and succeeded with support of the German Federal Ministry of Transport and the German maritime authority “See-Berufsgenossenschaft.”

Before that, in September, a strong alliance for advanced training took place: A cooperation was signed between the State Marine Technical University of St. Petersburg (SMTU) and Germanischer Lloyd, combining high scientific standards with practical relevance to a first class maritime education. With the financial support of Germanischer Lloyd, the Bureau for Innovative Projects of the State Marine Technical University has been established as “Germanischer Lloyd Auditorium”. In addition, the centre for scientific excellence has been equipped with computer hardware and Germanischer Lloyd’s ship structural design and analysis software POSEIDON. One goal is to counteract the worldwide shortage of engineers.

Generally, training and education are pushed forward: In 2007, the GL Academy has held several seminars in Russia – held in Russian language – some with more than 80 participants. In 2008, a number of seminars will be held in St. Petersburg and Vladivostok.

140 years of experience

“Not only the Russian owners, but also the shipyards really need a supportive classification society with international experience,” Guido Försterling explains GL’s strong commitment in Russia. “If you leave the national market – and many Russian shipowners are doing so at the moment for the first time – it is also the first time you are in touch with international problems: What does it mean to deal with all those international conventions? GL is a classification society represented worldwide and is able to answer the questions regarding these challenges.”

Founded in 1867, Germanischer Lloyd is the market leader in the classification of containerships. The society also covers all other ship types such as tanker, bulker, multi purpose vessels, high speed ferries and cruise ships. The current newbuilding orderbook contains more than 1,600 vessels with over 32 Mio GT.

While headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, Germanischer Lloyd has established a global network of 191 offices in 77 countries with 4,200 employees, engineers and other experts.

Germanischer Lloyd provides the safety surveys on board of 6,500 ships with more than 72 Mio GT. 126 flag states have authorized GL to perform statutory duties. According to annually published port state control statistics, Germanischer Lloyd has been ranking amongst the top classification societies for years.

GL is also the market leader in the sector of ice class vessels. Germanischer Lloyd is attending to some 2,600 ships with ice class, including 243 tankers. Tankers play a key role in conveying the oil from the Arctic region north of Eurasia, in the Barents and Kara Seas. Here, a tripling of the oil production for 2010 is expected in comparison to 2002. In both regions, ice cover presents a great challenge to navigation. Under the direction of GL, ten classification societies laid down, early in 2006, the technical details for navigation by tankers in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

To supplement the worldwide network in the maritime sector, Germanischer Lloyd established its Industrial Services in the 1960’s. Numerous subsidiaries and branch offices around the world offer services in four business areas: Oil & Gas, Wind Energy, System Certification and Materials and Failure Analysis.

Expansion in Russia

Continuously, Germanischer Lloyd expands its surveyor network: GL has established a global network of 191 offices in 77 countries. Already operating offices in St Petersburg, Volgograd, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Petrozawodsk and Vladivostok, the classification society opened a new site office in Kaliningrad only recently. Another office will be opened in Novorossiysk in August.

Germanischer Lloyd Russia offers the full range of services for ship owners from newbuilding surveillance to International Safety Management (ISM) and International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) audits as well as materials and components certification, for example for main engines being built in Russia.

“We are presently attending to 15 multi purpose vessels being built at Onego Shipyard as well as two chemical tankers at Volgograd Shipyard,” Guido Försterling states. He also noticed a decisive increase in newbuilding surveys as well as ISM/ISPS audits. “I am very happy to say, that we are gaining more and more new customers, especially owners, asking for our services.”