IRS gains China’s approval to launch Survey Company

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.