News Asian classification societies

Press Release

The ACS (Association of Asian Classification Societies) held its 32nd Annual Executive Committee meeting (EC32) through hybrid means in Mumbai, India on 26th November 2024.  Chaired by Mr. Arun Sharma, Executive Chairman of Indian Register of Shipping (IRS), the meeting brought together all eight(8) ACS member societies.

In his opening remarks, the ACS Chairman, Mr. Sharma, expressed his gratitude for members’ cooperation, support and contribution throughout the year. He recalled the early days of ACS and emphasized that ACS has made great progress, particularly on technical contribution in the Asian region. He also congratulated all Member Societies for successfully undergoing the verification of compliance with Membership Criteria this year and thanked the ACS Secretary for his efforts.

As part of the technical contribution in the Asian region, Chairman of Technical Management Group (TMG) of ACS reported to EC32 that ACS is actively reviewing existing Guidelines to reflect latest regulatory development. Additionally, development of new guidelines “Battery powered ships engaged in domestic voyage,” addressing common concerns in the area of safety and environmental protection has been completed, and are on the way for finalization and publication. He also reported that ACS Annual Report on PSC Inspection, featuring the PSC detention data for 2022~2023, had been compiled and available on ACS Website. The data focusing on ACS Member Societies’ classed vessels, along with analysis, provides useful guidance to ship operators and crew on board the ships.

In addition to the EC32nd meeting, a face-to-face Executives meeting with A-3(ASA, ASEF, ACS) organizations took place to strengthen technical cooperation among A-3. The meeting shared updates about the use of ammonia as alternative fuel and EU-SRR in relation to the Ship Recycling Convention. It was also decided to prepare and respond appropriately to face-to-face meetings, open forum, and technical seminars in the coming year.

As agenda of any other business, new technical officer was nominated by CCS, and it will be approved by EC. Chairman also expressed appreciation to the current Technical Officer, Mr. He, for his hard work over the past 5 years.

This year, ACS organized the international seminar in Da Nang, Vietnam on 29 August 2024. The successful seminar boasted 110 participants, including honoured guests and speakers representing ASA and ASEF .

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)