(Houston, TX—) ABS was named Best Classification Society during the recent Lloyd’s List Middle East & Indian Subcontinent Awards held in Dubai. The award ceremony is one of six regional events hosted by the industry’s daily newspaper to benchmark excellence within the maritime industry.
A panel of judges from a broad spectrum of industry selected ABS as the winner in the “Classification Society” category. The society has maintained a network of regional and port offices throughout the Middle East area for more than 30 years with regional administrative and operational headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“Our regional commitment has been reaffirmed over the past several years with a significant increase in the number of engineers and surveyors providing service to our clients throughout the Middle East and India,” said Dubai-based Joseph Brincat, ABS Regional Vice President, Middle Eastern Region. Brincat added that ABS has further strengthened its ties to the region with an office opened in Oman in June of this year and increased support for shipping and offshore activity in Libya and India.
“ABS has earned this recognition based on its unmatched experience with offshore developments in the region, in addition to its support of the growing gas, oil tanker and bulk carrier fleets that are controlled by Indian and Middle East-based owners,” said Brincat. In the past year the first jackup rigs built in the UAE were delivered into ABS class. Additional jackup units, accommodation units and offshore support vessels are either under construction at, or have recently been delivered from shipyards in the region. In addition some 70 offshore drilling units are active in the region.
Indian and Middle East ship owners have also turned to ABS for class services for very large crude carriers (VLCCs), Aframaxes, various sizes of bulkers including recent contracts from Oman Shipping for the largest ore carriers currently on order anywhere in the world, offshore support vessels as well as numerous crewboats.
“Ultimately this award is honoring the professionalism, the dedication and the commitment to our clients of our extensive network of surveyors, engineers and support staff across the region,” said Brincat. “To be considered the best, you must not only have the right products but you must provide unmatched levels of service delivery commensurate with the role of a classification society in promoting the security of life and the natural environment. I am very proud of the ABS team in the region and it is our collective goal to return as repeat winners in 2010.”
Founded in 1862, ABS is a leading international classification society devoted to promoting the security of life, property and the marine environment through the development and verification of standards for the design, construction and operational maintenance of marine-related facilities.