American Bureau of Shipping
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
American Bureau of Shipping is a Classification Society with headquarters in Houston, Texas. ABS was founded in 1862 and today it is one of the "big three" in the industry, together with Lloyd's Register and Det Norske Veritas.
Besides its US headquarter, ABS has regional headquarters in London, Doha, and Singapore, and a number of smaller offices in about 70 countries. The ABS's current President and Chief Operating Officer is Robert E. Kramek, who is scheduled to retire at the end of 2006.
ABS operated a New York office at the 91st floor of the World Trade Center North Tower until September 11, 2001. All employees of the company escaped the building collapse.
[edit] External links
- American Bureau of Shipping - ABS corporate Classification website
- ABS Group of Companies - ABS non-Classification services
- ABS Consulting - Risk and marine consulting
- ABS Infolink - Information Technology
- ABS Nautical Systems - Fleet management software
- IACS - International Association of Classification Societies
es:American Bureau of Shipping nl:American Bureau of Shipping pl:American Bureau of Shipping sv:American Bureau of Shipping zh:美国船级社 While the ABS has for years maintained a good reputation, recent events have questioned its effectiveness. In the Marine Board of Investigation inquiry into the sinking of the SS Marine Electric, US Coast Guard Captain Domini Caliccio questioned whether the ABS had an inherent conflict of interest in that its fees are paid by ship owners. His recommendation that ABS be releived of hull inspection duties was rejected by the Coast Guard Commandant and the ABS increasingly has assumed many inspection duties once the province of the government inspectors.
Controversy surfaced anew recently with the sinking of the MV Presitige off the coast of Spain. Damages to beaches and fishing ground ran past the tens of millions and the government of Spain sued the ABS for certifying the hull of the Presitage, which Spain maintained clearly was aged and unfit. The ABS has vigrously defended itself against such accusations.
