Lloyds Register Starts 250th Anniversary Celebrations
Lloyd’s Register starts 250th anniversary celebrations as Hyundai Heavy Industries delivers first Lloyd’s Register-classed vessel of the year in Ulsan, Korea
Tanker operator Flota Pertrolera Ecuatoriana (FLOPEC) upgrades Ecuador’s international shipping fleet
Lloyd’s Register, the world’s first classification society, today celebrated an unrivalled 250 years of technical service to maritime shipping when Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) delivered the first vessel of 2010 built to its class.
Pichincha, a 105,000 deadweight tonne Aframax tanker, today became the first Lloyd’s Register-classed ship to be delivered from the world’s shipyards this year; it was the second of two sisterships ordered by FLOPEC from the industry’s biggest commercial shipbuilder by volume.
“Completing 250 years under the same brand is a rare and admirable achievement. But, for Lloyd’s Register, this year will not be about celebrating history. It will be about celebrating our ability to consistently support the development of the technical innovation and expertise that the market requires, often before the market requires it,” said Luis Benito, Country & Marine Manager, Korea, for Lloyd’s Register Asia. “Market insight and technical expertise have proven to be two of our most enduring products, and we expect that to continue. Because quality clients such as HHI and FLOPEC not only count on our unrivalled experience, they also expect us to provide solutions for the technical and regulatory challenges they will face in the future.”
Pichincha, named after a legendary volcano near the Ecuadorean capital where local troops secured the country’s independence from Spain in 1822, was built to IACS’s Common Structural Rules and to the International Maritime Organization’s new guidelines for ship recycling known as ‘Green Passport’, illustrating all parties’ commitment to sustainable shipping.
“These ships are the realisation of the strategic plans for fleet growth we drew up five years ago; they will add commercial flexibility and expand our area of operations. We chose Lloyd’s Register for their expert guidance in fields that were new to us: bigger ships and CSR rules. And, as an environmentally conscious company, one of our priorities was to ensure compliance with the environmental requirements of our traditional trading areas, California and US Gulf & East coasts,” said Rear Admiral Aland Molestina, President of the FLOPEC Board and Commander in Chief of the Ecuadorian Navy. “We began building vessels at HHI more than 20 years ago, some of which are still sailing the world without any drawbacks. The availability of this design and timely building slots gave us confidence we would reach today’s milestone, while assuring both quality and safety.”
Benito said the fact that this ship was built by Koreans for owners in Ecuador highlighted the extensive global network that allowed the Lloyd’s Register Group to consistently provide a comprehensive suite of third-party assurance services to the full energy supply chain.
“The world of commerce has become increasingly global and in no industry is that more pronounced than in commercial shipping,” he said. “To stay at the top of this industry as Lloyd’s Register has for the past 250 years, you need to provide your clients with global support. But you also need to combine that with a deep understanding of local cultures and regulations.”
HHI, which has a global reputation for leading technical innovation, has been building ships to Lloyd’s Register class since 1972. Pichincha is the 484th ship delivered by HHI to Lloyd’s Register class, an elite family of ships which includes everything from very large crude and ore carriers to post-Panamax-sized containerships and the latest gas ships. HHI currently has 44 more ships contracted to Lloyd’s Register class on its books.