KR - GLOBAL TOP + CLASS

Committed to safeguarding life, property and the marine environment

A member of IACS since 1988 and registered under Institute Classification Clause of London Underwriters (ICC) since 1990, Korean Register of Shipping (KR) has earned an outstanding reputation for its long-standing dedication to safeguarding life and property and the environment through the establishment and application of technical requirements for the design, construction and survey of ships and other marine-related structures.

At the end of December 2004, the KR register totaled 2,078 ships, equalling gross tonnage of 22.2 million gt, an increase of approximately 2.4m. gt, or 11.8%, over the previous year. Of those, the leading types of ships under class in tonnage terms were bulk carriers, oil tankers, containerships, ro-ro ships, liquefied gas carriers and cargo ships. By flag state, Panamanian-flagged vessels made up more than half (12.5m. gt) of the total aggregate tonnage, followed by Korean-flagged vessels (7.4m. gt).

Specialization in ships of sophisticated design

By applying the latest technical safety standards, KR has been working to provide the most competent services for ships of sophisticated design or requiring special attention such as large container ships, MODU, passenger ships, VLCCs and, in particular, LNG carriers.

In line with Korea's premier position in the construction of LNG carriers, and the anticipated strong growth in demand in the years ahead, KR has been devoting much effort to analysis and research for the most optimum design and construction of new-generation LNG carriers, which are being demanded by operators of these highly-specialised vessels. Larger vessels, however, mean that keen attention must be paid to key technical areas to ensure they provide the same high degree of safety and reliability as their predecessors. To this end, KR has formed a special task force dedicated to LNG carriers and is presently carrying out analysis and studies on the following areas:

• Thermal equilibrium design of re-gasification system
• Efficiency and safety assessment of re-liquefaction system
• Safety assessment of dual fuel engine system and development of drawing approval methodology
• Structural safety assessment of large size LNG carriers (200,000 m 3 and above) and its cargo containment system via sloshing analysis and fluid structure interaction

KR presently has 18 LNGs under its class, and expects to add more newbuildings over the next few years.

KR-CON

On the technical front, KR has launched the fourth and the latest version of KR-CON, the internationally appraised database of IMO conventions and codes in 2004. This unique database program available both in CD software format and through internet service was originally launched in 2000 and is being updated on an annual basis to enable users of maritime community to keep abreast of many changes in IMO instruments and other international regulations.

Intergrated Simulation Module for SeaTrust ISTAS (Integrated Structural Analysis System)

Since 1995, KR has been providing designers of ship structure with a user-friendly computer software system to assess the ship structure integrity through the whole ship structure analysis called SeaTrust ISTAS (Integrated STructural Analysis System). As a part of effort to increase user-friendliness of the system, an Integrated Simulation Module for SeaTrust ISTAS has been developed. The simulation module in the system integrates the calculation results such as ship motions, wave loads, structural responses and stresses from the SeaTrust ISTAS and visualizes them as static images and dynamic motions with real time concept. Using this simulation module, designers can easily make combination of load cases and animate dynamic responses to confirm the structural integrity of ships more quickly.

International Committees

In September 2004, KR held the first meeting in London of its newly-formed European Com mittee. The committee has been established to serve as a key communication link between KR and the European shipping/shipbuilding industry. The first meeting was chaired by Dr Peter Swift of Intertanko, and other committee members comprised prominent practitioners in European/international shipping and marine insurance. A number of international topics and issues - such as IMO goal-based standards, tripartite communication between Asian shipbuilders, owners and class societies - were discussed at length, as well as statistics on the quality of ships classed with KR and development of its services.

IACS Common Structural Rules

KR is closely involved in industry-wide efforts to develop goal-based standards and common structural rules for bulkers and tankers. In particular, KR has been actively participating in development of the IACS common structural rules for bulk carriers as one of the seven bulk group members, and also in the ramification study of the IACS common rules for tankers. Presently, an in-house study is underway at KR to analyze the differences between the two sets of rules in their basic philosophy and technical background, and for possible harmonization.