Korean Register (KR) has signed a five-year agreement with German ship management company Held, to provide ISO 9001 Certification, ISM Company Audit (DOC), ISM Ship Audits (SMC) and ISPS and MLC compliance services for the company’s fleet of more than 30 vessels.

Held Shipping classed its first vessel the “Maria Francisca” IMO 9235361 with KR in 2018. Since then the trusted business relationship between the two companies has grown, with five more vessels being transferred to KR since then – “ABB Bentje” IMO 9283954, “BBC Newcastle” IMO 9484209, “BBC Nagasaki” IMO 9559872, “Elke” IMO 9283966 and “UML Veronica” IMO 9500089.

In 2019, Held Shipping also signed a contract for KR to provide IHM Verification Services for the company’s entire fleet. Held Shipping is one of the first shipping companies in Northern Europe to consistently use KR for classification alongside a range of other services. A strong partnership has developed, with two more vessels now being prepared for Transfer of Class to join KR’s classed fleet shortly.

Brothers Captain Jan Held and Bernhard Held are joint managing directors of Held Shipping. Captain Jan Held said: “We are very pleased to announce this next step of cooperation with the Korean Register, and we believe that KR has the potential to become our leading partner in the future”.

Bernhard Held added: “We particularly value the proactive support from KR Hamburg and the classification society’s customer service mentality is extremely good. One of our vessels recently needed urgent support in a remote port in Russia, this is covered by KR’s Block Fee Agreements. A local IACS representative was able to help us, but the costs were entirely covered by KR. We particularly enjoy working with Mr. Suhr and his colleagues in KR’s Hamburg office and feel that KR offers very good value for money.”

Michael Suhr, Regional Director Northern Europe, Korean Register, added: “We appreciate the trust shown by Held Shipping and look forward to further close cooperation. With our new office set up for North Europe we are well positioned to improve our first-class service and customer-oriented support even further.

“Meanwhile, we have in addition to our experienced Korean staff and surveyors, two German surveyors available for KR Hamburg and for KR North Europe, two very experienced colleagues as additional backup and client support for our valued customers. So we are well positioned to provide timely professional advice.”