The Indian Register of Shipping, a leading classification society, is extending its commitment to the Asia Pacific region with new offices and an expanded service portfolio. The classification society held its Advisory Committee Meeting followed by a Customer Meet in Singapore and outlined its plans for the region.

The advisory committee comprises of senior managers from leading shipyards, shipowners and ship managers from Singapore who provide strategic advice to the IRS top management. The committee members and IRS led by Mr Sharma exchanged views on strategic moves in the region and a range of new initiatives for the classification society were proposed.

IRS also shared its initiatives towards decarbonisation and digitalisation and gave an update on its services on new upcoming regulations under MARPOL which saw active interest from the gathering.

IRS is set to officially open an office in the Philippines in coming months in addition to the recent office in South Korea reflecting the importance of Asia Pacific markets to the maritime sector. These offices will further complement its existing network across the region and help achieve its aim of providing a truly global service to its customers.

Arun Sharma, Executive Chairman of IRS, told the committee: “Throughout the last 2-3 years we have continued to build our network of clients and friends in the vital Asia Pacific region and now we have the opportunity to meet them face to face once more.”

Mr Sharma outlined the fleet growth in the past two years despite the challenging global situation which he attributed to the society nurturing close ties with the Greek and Middle East based shipping communities.

“Our commitment to safety as our top priority and our pursuit of technical excellence means IRS is becoming a popular choice for many shipowners from diverse parts of the world. We aim to roll out new services, to be delivered digitally and physically in the near future, and Asia Pacific will undoubtedly benefit from this,” added Mr Vijay Arora, Managing Director, IRS.

The meeting, which took place on August 11, 2022, was followed by a dinner attended by a cross section of the maritime fraternity from Singapore.