Overview
The American Bureau of Shipping was founded in 1862 in New York and is now headquartered in Spring, Texas. It classes around 12,000 vessels totalling 270 million GT, making it the second-largest classer by tonnage after DNV. ABS dominates the US-flag commercial fleet, US Navy auxiliary classifications, and Gulf-of-Mexico offshore — drillships, FPSOs, MODUs — and is among the heaviest classers of LNG and chemical tankers. It is an IACS founding member, publishes the widely-cited ABS Rules for Building and Classing, and runs ABS Wavesight (the former Nautical Systems group) for fleet operations software.
Key facts
- Founded 1862, New York; HQ Spring, Texas
- ~12,000 vessels / ~270 M GT classed
- Dominant US-flag and Gulf-offshore classer
- Major LNG and chemical-tanker class
- IACS founding member
Why it matters to seafarers
If you sail US-flag, your vessel is almost certainly ABS-classed and your CoC paperwork passes through USCG who relies on ABS surveys for many statutory items. ABS's ABS My Eagle portal hosts the class status report; chief engineers should bookmark it. ABS naval-vessel rules are also the standard for many sponsor-nation auxiliaries.