Indian Register of Shipping



Welcome to The Indian Register Of Shipping

The Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) is an internationally recognised independent ship classification society, founded in India in 1975. IRS provides professionally competent, completely independent and highly efficient third party technical inspection and certification services for all types of marine craft and structures. These services have also been expanded to cover a range of offshore and industrial projects.

Indian Register Quality Systems

IRQS stands for Integrity, Reliability, Quality and Safety. Recognising the need for independent third party quality system certification bodies in the country, IRQS prepared itself over the last five years to render these services to the industry. IRQS has 40 registered qualified Lead Auditors of Quality Systems including ISO 9000 Series, QS 9000 and ISO 14001 Standards.

History & Goal

Recognising the necessity for a leading maritime nation such as India to have it's own classification society, the Government of India constituted a Steering Committee (known as Mudaliar Committee) whose recommendation for formation of an Indian classification society was accepted by the Government of India in 1974. Thus, in March 1975, Indian Register of Shipping was established as a public limited company under section 25 of the Indian Companies Act, 1956 with no share capital, no shareholders and distributing no dividends and seeking to promote the objects for which it was established which include:

Within a short span of its inception, IRS has already established itself as an international ship classification society and is in many ways on par with leading ship classification societies of the world, which have been in existence for over a hundred years. It's highly skilled and motivated technical personnel, which continue to be it's main source of strength, coupled with it's enviable safety record, allows IRS to enjoy the confidence of the entire marine fraternity - ship owners, ship builders, underwriters, government, industries allied to shipping, et al. It's reputation for efficient, prompt service of the highest order based on it's technical, financial and moral integrity has in fact made common the acronym "IRS" by which the organisation is recognised today - Integrity, Reliability & Safety.

Organisation

IRS employs a large number of technical surveyors on an exclusive basis. They consist of naval architects, marine engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, structural engineers, metallurgists. QA assessors, NDT experts and other specialist staff operating from offices spread all over India and Sri Lanka.

IRS is managed by representatives from each of the industry segments that use its services. These include representatives from the maritime industry, underwriters, general engineering, government agencies and defence services.

They are supported by subcommittees such as the Technical committee, the Classification subcommittee, the Quality subcommittee, and the Research Advisory subcommittee.

The Technical committee is responsible for the setting up of all rules and regulations and all other related technical matters.

The Classification subcommittee is responsible for all matters concerning classification of ships.

The Quality subcommittee is responsible for IRS activities related to Quality Assurance including the working of Indian Register Quality Systems (IRQS), a department of IRS.

The Research Advisory subcommittee is responsible for all matters regarding research and development activities of IRS.

IRS Board of Directors is elected by the General Body of members and is responsible for all financial matters.

IRS has three principal divisions, a Technical Services Division, a Classification & Certification Division and a Research & Co-ordination Division.

The Technical Services Division is responsible for providing technical support for all activities of IRS and operational aspects of IRQS.

The Classification & Certification Division is responsible for all operational aspects of IRS which cover marine, offshore and industrial services.

The Research & Co-ordination Division is responsible for research and development and coordination with other divisions of IRS and with the industry. This division plays a key role in the organisation and its interface with all other functions of IRS

All services provided by IRS are fully integrated throughout the company. In this way, IRS develops a personal and professional relationship with all clients, ensuring that individual needs are met and that services remain of the highest quality.

At the core of all IRS activities is the IRS surveyor who is a person with mature technical knowledge, a high degree of personal integrity and professional impartiality on the job.

The day-to-day functioning and affairs of IRS are entrusted to the Chief Executive, who in turn is assisted by three Chief Surveyors who head the Technical Services, Classification & Certification and Research & Coordination Division, respectively.

At present IRS has a technical work-force of 84 Surveyors, 12 Managers/Officers and approx. 50 support staff.