Germanischer Lloyd
 |
|
| Performance-Orientated | |
| Industry | Shipbuilding, Offshore, Oil & Gas, Wind Energy |
| Genre | Classification Society & Consultancy |
| Founded | 1867 |
| Headquarters | 18, Brooktorkai, Hamburg, Germany |
|
Area served
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Worldwide (77 countries) |
|
Key people
|
Executive Board: Erik van der Noordaa, Dr. J. Segatz, P. Paasivaara. COO: T. Schramm. Chief Surveyor: N. Kray |
| Services | Classification, Consultancy, Assessment, Research & Software |
|
Number of employees
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>7,500 |
| Divisions | Americas, Europe-Middle East-Africa, Asia-Pacific |
| Website | www.dnvgl.com |
Executive Board: Erik van der Noordaa, Dr. J. Segatz, P. Paasivaara.
The Germanischer Lloyd SE was a classification society based in the city of Hamburg, Germany. It ceased to exist as an independent entity on September 2013 as a result of its merger with Norway's DNV (Det Norske Veritas) to become the present-day DNV GL.
Before the merger, as a technical supervisory organization, Germanischer Lloyd conducted safety surveys on more than 7,000 ships with over 100 Mio GT. Its technical and engineering services also included the mitigation of risks and assurance of technical compliance for oil, gas, and industrial installations, as well as wind energy parks.
On 16 March 1867, a group of 600 shipowners, shipbuilders and insurers met in the big hall of the Hamburg Stock Exchange on the occasion of the founding convention of Germanischer Lloyd. On behalf of the founding committee, the merchant and shipowner August Behn signed the statute of the young institution. The founding committee consisted of representatives of shipowners J.C. Godeffroy & Sohn, A.J. Schön & Co., A.J. Hertz & Söhne, as well as R.M. Sloman. The new society was founded as a non-profit association based in Hamburg.
The reason for forming a German classification society was to achieve transparency. Merchants, shipowners, and insurers used to get little information about the state of a ship. As an independent classification society, Germanischer Lloyd was created to evaluate the quality of ships and deliver the results to shipowners, merchants, and insurers.
First classifications were based on construction rules developed by Friedrich Schüler, a shipbuilder from Stettin-Grabow, Prussia (later the German Empire). GL’s first international ship classification register from 1868 reports 273 classed ships – 26 of them under a foreign flag. In 1877, ten times more classed ships were registered. As a consequence, the surveyor network extended rapidly. By 1869, GL had surveyors in a dozen German seaports and outside Germany in St Petersburg, Copenhagen, London, Liverpool, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Swatow, St Thomas, Amoy, Penang, and Singapore.
Iron and steam ships became more and more popular, slowly replacing wooden sailing vessels. After years of economic difficulties, Imperial Chancellor Bismarck took charge of the situation by announcing a commission. Its advice: The association ought to turn into a public company. The change was finalised at a general assembly which took place on 5 October 1889.
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Wikipedia