ABS To Consolidate Headquarter Operations

The American Bureau of Shipping, a 115-year-old ship classification society, has acquired a 21-story building on lower Manhattan for use as its worldwide headquarters.

Announcement of the purchase was made by Robert T. Young, ABS president, and James D.

Robinson III, chairman and chief executive officer of American Express Co., owner of the 65 Broadway, New York City property, which has been taken over by the classification society.

ABS has made its worldwide headquarters at 45 Broad Street, New York, since 1946, but as a result of the organization's expanding activities it has been forced to take additional space in nearby buildings.

The ship classification society had its first headquarters in the old Merchants Exchange on Wall Street, opening offices there in 1862.

The Bureau subsequently moved to a number of new sites, all on lower Manhattan, outgrowing each in turn, until it acquired the 45 Broad Street building which has been the focal point for its international activities ever since.

The organization currently employs more than 500 people at its New York office, with an additional 700 employed at its exclusive and nonexclusive offices throughout the world.

The Society establishes internationally accepted Rules for the design, construction and periodic survey of merchant ships and other marine structures.

Subsidiaries of the Bureau, ABS Worldwide Technical Services, Inc., and ABS Computers, Inc., will also be located at the new headquarters building.

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Maritime Reporter

First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.