A new initiative, for closer monitoring of steel thickness measurement companies, has been taken by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS). Under a new Procedural Requirement (PR 23), which took effect on 1 August, all IACS members are obliged to report any change in the status of approval of TM companies. A full list of thickness measurement (TM) companies approved by IACS members is now available on the IACS Website (www.iacs.org.uk). These TM companies are approved to take steel thickness gauging of ships subject to the Enhanced Survey Program (ESP). IACS Permanent Secretary Richard Leslie says: “TM companies play a central role in the assessment of vessel condition.