IRS gains China’s approval to launch Survey Company

News Release International Register of Shipping (IRS) July 22, 2011

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London, 22 July
2011 – International Register of Shipping (IRS) has received official
approval from the Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) of the People’s Republic
of China (PRC) to open a surveying
company in China.
 
The approval comes as IRS, headquartered in
Panama City, Panama, continues to expand its network, especially in Asia and
Africa. It has opened new offices in Singapore, Norway and Ukraine in the last
year. Furthermore, IRS is delighted to announce that it has received full
authorization to issue statutory certificates on behalf of the maritime
authorities of Kenya, Senegal and Zanzibar.
 
Said Nassif, IRS Managing Director, says the
Chinese approval is a significant advance for the classification society.
“Obviously China is a huge market and this is a major achievement for our team.
The government is determined to ensure the highest quality standards are
maintained, so we are elated to have gained this approval.”  
 
IRS (China) will carry out surveys and issue
classification and statutory certificates to all types of vessels on PRC
territory and its national waters.
 
The MSA said that: The surveying company IRS (CHINA) Limited may
carry out the following businesses within the territory of China: 
-         
to carry out surveys and issue classification and statutory
certificates to all types of vessels on People’s Republic of China territory and
its national waters.
 
IRS works closely with all its clients to
help raise and maintain standards and this is evident in the continually falling
numbers of ships which are detained under the port state control regimes. The RO
related detentions for IRS have shown a continuous downward trend for last three
years in Paris, Tokyo and other Port State MOU regions. 
 
IRS is taking proactive measures to further
improve performance in the future, with education, enforcement and encouragement
as key factors in this strategy.  
 
As encouragement, it recently introduced
a reward program for quality ships which have been inspected by port state
control officers but did not incur any detentions in the past 36
months. For education, IRS has developed surveyor training courses as well
as creating a Port State Control (PSC) CD outlining ways in which its clients
can reduce deficiencies and prevent detentions. For enforcement, a thorough
pre-entry vetting has been introduced for all vessels newly entering the
IRS Class.  
 
IRS has also established its own training
department, International Register Training Institute (IRTI), including courses
accredited by the US Coast Guard and US Maritime Administration, as well as by
IRCA (International Register of Certified Auditors). Every course is developed
under a quality system complying with ISO 9001:2008 requirements.
 
By taking this action and continuing to drive
up standards over the coming years, IRS is confident it will be moving to a much
better performance in near future.
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