ABS and MARIC sign Strategic Cooperation Agreement

ABS has announced that it has signed a Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Marine Design and Research Institute of China (MARIC).

The agreement will look to expand collaboration, focusing on operational efficiency and environmental performance in both the offshore and marine sectors.

ABS and MARIC will collaborate on technical support, classification, certification, training and statutory guidance for merchant vessels and offshore units. ABS said that it will also assess compliance with ABS Rules, Guides and statutory regulations.

The agreement also creates opportunities to form joint development projects in areas such as energy efficiency, environmental performance, techno economic evaluation, design considerations for harsh environment operations, novel design concepts and technology performance assessment.

ABS Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Howard Fireman, said: "This Agreement aligns the core competencies of ABS and MARIC and allows us to work together on designs that meet environmental regulations and technology trends […] Leveraging technologies such as CFD, techno economic evaluation, and performance data analysis, we will be able to help industry effect improvements in energy efficiency and environmental compliance."

MARIC President, Wenhua Xing, added: "For the past 65 years, MARIC has been a technology pioneer in design development of merchant vessels and offshore units in China. We value this cooperation agreement with ABS as a great opportunity to pursue state-of-the-art, energy-efficient, environmentally friendly and intellectual technologies together to our mutual benefit."

Edited from press release by Callum O'Reilly

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/lng-shipping/08012016/abs-and-maric-sign-strategic-cooperation-agreement-1845/