ABS chief warns on class move into ship design

ABS boss Christopher J. Wiernicki warned against classification societies moving into ship design due to fundamental conflicts of interest, Seatrade Asia online reports. Speaking at a conference in the US ABS ceo Wiernicki described the move some class societies in promoting energy-optimized designs created inhouse, a as “deeply troubling”.

“The bottom line is that, since the objectives of the designer and the class society are so fundamentally different, having class societies promote themselves as designers is dangerous,” said Wiernicki. “It undermines the basic fabric of the industry, it destroys the credibility of class as an independent third party, it has the potential to lead to poor designs that could impact the credibility of the whole industry and it upsets the essential checks and balances between commercial pressures and effective safety and environmental risk management.”

He highlighted concerns of crossing the line between design and classification. “When classification societies begin developing and promoting their own designs, the essential independence of class is compromised. If ABS were to promote an in-house design for an energy-efficient tanker, how could we retain our integrity if we were then to approve that same design for construction?” he asked.