Page 34: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2016)

CLASSIFICATION (Photo: ABS)

ABS sharpening its global view (Photo: ABS)

The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), already one of the world’s well-regarded classi? cation societies, recently restructured its ranks to meet the perpetually evolving needs of its customers. Kirsi Tikka, the global head of marine, and Howard Fireman, CTO, explain.

BY GREG TRAUTHWEIN hile the business of data analytics are rapidly changing the at the vanguard of technological council the technological curve.

ship classi? cation operational pro? les of ships at sea, and and insight, a valuable ear and invalu- ABS is in the midst of a transition to is ever-evolving, it while the bene? ts are many, so too are able partner in this historic progression. meet and exceed these growing needs. could be argued that the dangers, as the growing threat of cy- At the same time, class must integrate “We established the new organization

Wtoday is a watershed ber security comes to the fore. latest technologies and best practices in and it is a global organization to com- of sorts in terms of this businesses evo- In the middle of it all is classi? cation, its own operations to consistently ensure pliment our four geographic divisions,” lution. Increasing amounts of data and which is increasingly relied upon to be that it itself is keeping one step ahead of said Kirsi Tikka, Ph.D., Executive Vice 34 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • MAY 2016

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