News Asian classification societies

Press Release

The ACS (Association of Asian Classification Societies) held its 30th Annual Executive Committee meeting (EC30) by virtual means due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on 9^th November 2022, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Sun Feng, Chairman & President of China Classification Society (CCS). All of the eight ACS member societies were present at the meeting.

In his opening remarks, the Chairman expressed regret that there was no choice but to hold online meeting due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, and he expressed his gratitude for members’ cooperation and understanding. He also expressed his gratitude to the members for their support and contribution during this year despite the difficulties, and emphasized that ACS has achieved much progress this year, particularly on technical work.

As part of the technical contribution in the Asian region, Chairman of Technical Management Group (TMG) of ACS reported to EC30 that ACS has been reviewing existing Guidelines to reflect latest regulatory developments and discussing about possible new guidelines to address common concerns in the area of safety and environmental protection. He also intimated that ACS Annual Report on PSC Inspection has been compiled and uploaded on ACS Website along with the PSC detention data for 2019~2021 of ACS Member Societies’ classed vessels and analysis to provide useful guidance to ship operators and crew.

An agenda to strengthen technical cooperation between A-3(ASA, ASEF, ACS) organizations were also discussed, and it was decided to prepare and respond appropriately to face-to-face meeting, open forum, and technical seminars next year. In this regard, Mr. Sun Feng emphasized that the strategic directions of ACS are to pursue the improvement of ACS Members’ performance and their technical contributions to the Asian maritime community. He also mentioned the importance to strengthen interactions and cooperation with Asian shipping and shipbuilding industry as well as Administrations in this region to promote regional maritime safety and protection of marine environment even through virtual means.

ACS was formally founded in February 2010 with 6 founding members that are Biro Klasifikasi Indonesia(BKI), China Classification Society(CCS), Indian Register of Shipping(IRS), Korean Register(KR), Nippon Kaiji Kyokai(NK) and Vietnam Register(VR). And then, Ship Classification Malaysia(SCM) became the 7^th member of ACS  in January 2018 and Emirates Classification Society(TASNEEF) became the 8^th member of ACS in  January 2022. The purpose and aims of ACS is to promote ship safety at sea and protection of the marine environment and, in cooperation with other partners in the maritime community, and to purse improvement of ACS members’ performance and their technical contributions to the maritime community based on their accumulated technical knowledge and expertise.

Contact: Jeong-chong JEON, ACS Secretary 

(Seoul +82-70-4916-8140, E-mail:Secretary@asiancs.org)