Lloyd's Register Of Shipping

Voluntary association of shipowners, ship builders, engine builders, and insurance underwriters. Its primary objective is survey and classification of seagoing merchant ships (of 100 gross tons and over) of any nationality, and publish that information in its annual Lloyds Register Of British And Foreign Shipping. Started by the Lloyd's Of London in 1760, it is now an independent worldwide organization that lays down rules "governing the construction and maintenance of ships which are universally recognized as the standard best practice in the merchant ship design principles and marine engineering." While several countries have their own classification societies (such as the US 'American Bureau Of Shipping,' and the French 'Bureau Veritas'), nearly 80 percent of the UK tonnage and about 30 percent of other countries' tonnage holds the classification of Lloyd's Register.