Robert Spencer News

(Houston and London) ABS and Lloyd’s Register (LR) announce the release of jointly-developed software that will be used to assess bulk carriers and oil tankers designed to comply with IACS Common Structural Rules (CSR). The common software draws upon the technical strengths of ABS and Lloyd's Register and will be used to evaluate new designs presented to either society. Recognizing the strengths of their collaborative efforts and to demonstrate commitment for consistency, ABS and LR also announce the establishment of Common Structural Rules Software…

Effective 1 May, ABS will introduce changes to its global engineering organization designed to improve service delivery to clients and reinforce technical capabilities. The new organizational structure is similar to the approach the society has used to administer its global survey services in recent years and is intended to provide better administration of its ship and offshore engineering services, more technical support to the engineering staff conducting plan reviews and promote greater technical consistency. The key component of this new organizational structure is the creation of Assistant Chief Engineer (ACE) positions within each operating Division, reporting directly to the ABS Chief Engineer Robert Giuffra in the corporate headquarters in Houston.

Dr. Kirsi Tikka has joined ABS as Vice President Engineering for ABS Europe and will be assigned to the London Office in January 2002. Robert Spencer will continue as Director of Engineering for Europe, reporting to Dr. Tikka. Dr. Tikka joins ABS from the prestigious Webb Institute where she has served as Professor of Naval Architecture since 1995. Dr. Tikka also worked at Chevron Shipping Company in San Francisco from 1989 to 1995. She was in the Tanker Planning and Economics Division on the President's staff and performed economic analyses for marine transportation projects. While at Chevron, Dr. Tikka was also Senior Operations Planner responsible for the safe…