Facility to increase our focused Naval client support with local navies, Departments of Defence and the wider defence industry in Australasia.

Lloyd’s Register (LR) has strengthened the local naval Australasian support structure by establishing a new Naval Liaison Office (NLO) in Sydney, Australia. The office will provide dedicated Naval classification and assurance services, and technical and project management support to the Royal Australian Navy, the Royal New Zealand Navy, and their respective Departments of Defence, and companies in the wider defence industry with local capability.

The NLO will support LR’s wider Naval business throughout the Asia-Pacific region as more navies and defence industry companies and organisations choose LR’s Naval assurance and advisory services.

Steve McDowall, LR’s Naval Business Manager for Australasia, who will lead the NLO said: “LR is proud to bring this new, high quality, local capability to strengthen our existing relationships with navies, defence departments and the defence industry in Australasia, and the extensive range of services that LR delivers in providing assurance services to Naval safety and capability management.”

“The new NLO team have a huge naval pedigree and have supported navies and the wider defence community in Australasia for many years. The core capability is built around the management of safety and naval fleets, and also in the design, build and sustainment of future Naval ship classes. It is an extremely bright future for navies in the Australasian region and LR is ready to continue partnering with them for ongoing success with local expertise” Mr McDowall said.

David Lloyd, LR’s Global Naval Business Director, commented: “Whether it’s the Royal Australian Navy embarking on a considerable newbuilding programme or the Royal New Zealand Navy in the midst of a significant fleet capability upgrade, establishing a Naval Liaison Office in Sydney reinforces LR’s commitment that we are both present and ready to be the classification society partner of choice.”

This follows recent developments with Babcock International in which LR has been selected for UK Ministry of Defence’s Type 31 frigate programme to provide naval assurance services. LR will also class new Multi-Role Ships for Federal German Government, where it was announced that LR was chosen as the preferred classification society for two new 95-metre Multi-Role Ships earlier this month.

November 2019 marked the twentieth anniversary of the first Naval Ship Technical Committee meeting, where a group from LR, different navies from around the world and the defence industry set out to develop a unique set of Rules for navies and the naval shipbuilding industry. LR’s Naval Ship Rules were a turning point for the naval industry and are now used by shipyards around the world and classification Rules are now required in nearly all naval ship specifications.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Steve McDowall and his new team will be working from home until safety and travel protocols are lifted and day-to-day operations return to normal.