Leading Classification Society ClassNK has carried out system updates and the application procedure revision to improve the convenience of ClassNK Archive Center (NKAC).

IMO Goal-based ship construction standards (GBS) are applied to bulk carriers and oil tankers of 150m in length and above for which the completion date is on or after 1 July 2020. IMO-GBS applied ships are required to store Ship Construction File (SCF) onboard the ship and/or ashore.

Responding to clients’ needs to store SCF ashore, in 2016 ClassNK developed the industry-first archive center system, NKAC, which fully complies with IMO GBS and the Industry Standard. In line with the requirements of the Industry Standard, NKAC obtained certification for information security management system (ISMS, ISO/IEC 27001:2013) and implemented advanced security systems such as intrusion prevention, remote data protection and more.

Since its launch, NKAC has been highly evaluated by the industry and widely used as the system which balances the needs of shipowners with the information protection of intellectual property holders such as shipbuilders. While construction of ships that are applicable to GBS-SCF is fully in progress, out of all the ships currently using NKAC, around 40% of the ships are non-ClassNK.

Under these circumstances, ClassNK is taking a holistic approach to improve the convenience of NKAC based on client feedback. In addition to system updates such as simplifying the procedure to upload ship plan and more, the procedures for application have been significantly simplified, which was particularly requested. Also, flexible price plans have been introduced to meet each user’s situation.