The NASC office (Nagasaki Approval Support Centre) is formally a part of Approval Centre Japan in Kobe, but will be an approval support unit available to DNV Maritime.

Last year was challenging for the shipping industry and the classification societies. The new Common Structural Rules for Tankers and Bulkers were put in force; this required completely new designs. That challenge has now been conveyed to the classification society, seeing a significantly increased hull approval scope. Combined with a record high number of orders to DNV last year, the DNV Approval Centres foresee a major work volume that may be challenging under the current manning.
The NASC office was opened on 6 September, as a DNV Maritime initiative to smoothly handle the increased work volume under the new Common Structural Rules without compromising the focus towards the yard in their design development.
The new office is currently manned by five engineers and is headed by DNV’s Murase-san, but the engineers come from MEDIS and are working on a one-year contract with DNV.
MEDIS is a Japanese design company with some 600 employees of which about half work in the ship section. MEDIS played an important role as the representatives of the Japanese shipping industry under the calibration and consequence studies of the new Common Structural Rules.
DNV Maritime’s marketing director Wilhelm Magelssen, cutting the cord during the opening, said: “The new NASC office will have an important role to assist the approval centres in Asia to handle the increased workload without compromising quality.”

Date: 2008-01-30