Maersk selects LR to class its tankers to Harmonised Common Structural Rules

Danish ship owner Maersk Tankers has selected Lloyd’s Register (LR) to class its new nine medium range (MR) type product tankers that will be built at Samsung’s Ningbo yard in China.

The vessels will be compliant to the newly enforced IACS Harmonised Common Structural Rules (CSR-H), for tankers and bulk carriers.

The new rules will be applicable to all oil tankers over 150m and bulk carriers over 90m in length, which are contracted for construction on or after 1 July this year.

LR North Asia regional marine manager Jim Smith said: "These are amongst the first CSR-H vessels to be ordered and show the trust placed in LR by the shipyard and ship-owner.

LR is currently working jointly with ABS to develop a software to simplify the application of CSR-H.

The new rules provide a consistent approach for all International Association of Class Society (IACS) members to evaluate the structural strength of these ship types.

The CSR software will be used to evaluate new designs presented to both the societies.

The classification society claims to have received other orders for CSR-H designs from Korea, Japan and China.

Smith added: "Our strong technical capabilities in Korea and China mean that we can meet the demands for support in a timely manner and help ensure that high quality and high performance vessels are delivered by Samsung to Maersk Tankers."

Construction of the nine 4,000TEU container vessels will commence in the near future, with deliveries expected by 2018.

The new fleet expansion is part of its $15bn investment programme, which was announced in September 2014, in new-buildings, retrofitting, containers and other equipment.