American Bureau of Shipping

American Bureau of Shipping

Type	Not for profit
Industry	Marine Classification
Genre	Classification Society
Founded	1862
Headquarters	Houston, Texas, U.S.
Number of locations	200 offices
Key people	Christopher J. Wiernicki, Chairman, President & CEO
Services	Classification
Number of employees	5,500
Website	www.eagle.org

The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) is a classification society, with a mission 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. At the end of 2012, ABS was the second largest class society with a classed fleet of nearly 12,000 commercial vessels and offshore facilities. ABS' core service is the provision of classification services through the development of standards called ABS Rules. These Rules form the basis for assessing the design and construction of new vessels and the integrity of existing vessels and marine structures.

ABS was first chartered in the state of New York in 1862, to certify ship captains. It has been involved in the development and improvement of safety standards. Born out of a need for industry self-regulation, ABS published its first technical standards, Rules for Survey and Classing Wooden Vessels, in 1870. When the era of wooden ships gave way to iron, ABS established standards for these structures, published as Rules for Survey and Classing of Iron Vessels. Similarly, when iron gave way to steel, ABS Rules for Building and Classing Steel Vessels were established and published in 1890. These Steel Vessel Rules continue to be revised and published annually.

ABS has been organized as a not-for-profit since its founding in 1862. ABS has been commissioned by the US government and the US Coast Guard to act in many maritime matters and has hired several former officers from the Coast Guard. ABS is required under US law to maintain its status as a not-for-profit organization in order to maintain its role as the agent of the US government on matters of government vessel classification.

The world headquarters as well as the ABS Americas Division headquarters for ABS are located in Houston, Texas, USA. The divisional headquarters for Europe is located in London and the divisional headquarters for Asia Pacific is located in Singapore. ABS has more than 5,500 employees worldwide and is broadly divided into 2 groups: Engineering review and Surveying. ABS Engineers work in office buildings in Houston, Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Shanghai, Busan, Yokohama and other cities. Surveyors are employed in ports and shipyards worldwide to verify that ships are built according to the drawings.