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American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) is one of the leading Classification societies in the world. As at end-2006, ABS was the third largest class society with a classed fleet aggregating 126.4 m gross tons, comprised of almost 10,000 commercial vessels and offshore facilities.

The mission of ABS is to promote the security of life, property and the natural environment, primarily through the development and verification of standards for the design, construction and operational maintenance of marine-related facilities.

Its more than 2,000 strong worldwide workforce is comprised principally of technical analysts and researchers who contribute to the establishment of the society’s standards, naval architects and marine and mechanical engineers who verify that proposed ship and offshore facility designs conform to the society’s standards and field surveyors who verify that those ships and facilities are built and maintained in accordance with the approved drawings and the Society’s Rules.

ABS is headquartered in Houston, Texas and operates through a global Divisional structure that maintains offices in 60 countries. The best public accounting of ABS’ performance is provided by the annual Port State Control statistics released by the principal Port State groupings – the US Coast Guard, the Paris Memorandum of Understanding and the Tokyo Memorandum of Understanding. ABS has consistently placed in the elite echelon of class societies under all three Port State regimes.

In addition to its classification activity, ABS also acts a Recognized Organization on behalf of more than 100 governments. A Recognized Organization is authorized by a flag State to conduct statutory surveys on ships registered under that flag on behalf of the nation’s maritime administration.

Most recently, ABS has concluded a multi-year development program in concert with the US Navy to develop Rules for the building and classing of combatant naval vessels. The first naval combatant built to these new Rules was launched in late 2006.

ABS is accorded not-for-profit status by the US Government for its classification activities. All other activities are carried out through operating subsidiaries of the wholly owned for-profit affiliate of ABS, the ABS Group of Companies Inc. These activities are primarily in the area of risk management with the ABS affiliate, ABSG Consulting Inc. being the largest independent, specialist provider of risk-based services within the US. Other subsidiaries include ABS Quality Evaluations, an ISO quality systems registrar, and ABS Nautical Systems, a leading provider of fleet management software to the marine and offshore industries.

• 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