Bulk+Carrier

The Fastest Growing Class Society for Bulk Carriers.

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Purpose

Bulk Carriers are ships designed for carriage of solid bulk cargoes. In gross tonnes, bulk carriers amount for almost one third of the world's sailing fleet.

DNV classification services focus on safety of the ship, cargo and crew, combined with efficient operations.

The modern bulk carrier originated in 1954 (M/S "Cassiopeia", designed by Ole Skaarup), and currently more than 7000 bulk carriers are sailing the seas, and they carry the vast majority of the world's dry bulk cargoes. Total seaborne dry bulk transports amounts more than 2500 million tonnes per year, including bulk cargoes as iron ore, coal, grain, bauxite/alumina, phosphate, steel products, cement, petcoke, forest products, fertilisers, sulphur and other dry bulk cargoes.

Benefits

  • We are the leading class society for building and converting to bulk carriers at yards in China, Korea, Vietnam and India, and are a major player at yards elsewhere in the world, including Japan, Singapore and Thailand.
  • We support the bulk carrier fleets around the world through our global network of skilled surveyors and customer service managers.
  • Our experienced staff can provide practical training in design issues, interpretation of new rules and regulations, and inspection and maintenance issues.
  • We have competence centres with bulk carrier approval expertise in Oslo, Kobe, Pusan and Shanghai, and specially appointed bulk carrier personnel in Piraeus, Dubai, London, Hamburg and New Jersey.
  • DNV pioneered the development of software for calculation according to the CSR for Bulk Carriers. We have made robust tools which are fit for purpose, focusing on the vital aspects of safe and efficient operation of the ships.
  • We invest heavily in R&D, and in our publications such as "DNV Bulk Carrier Update", we document the results of these R&D efforts, helping you to stay on top of current technologies and trends influencing the bulk carrier business.
  • We have implemented a simple and efficient procedure for entries into DNV class.

Features

Often seen as "workhorses of the seas", bulk carriers are indeed designed to be sturdy cargo ships, but their demanding duties mean that they must be built, loaded and operated with keen attention. DNV has been in the forefront of risk management for bulk carriers, and currently the following selected topics are high on our agenda to maintain this lead:

Our experience

DNV currently classifies close to 19 million gt of bulk carriers, ranging from large ore carriers to small size bulk carriers. In 2007 contracts for 238 new bulk carriers and ore carriers were signed to DNV class - equal to more than 14 million gt, making us the fastest growing class society for bulk carriers.