Arun Sharma assumed charge as “Chairman and Managing Director” of the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) this morning having taken over from  Capt J. C. Anand who founded and nurtured the organization raising it to occupy a significant place in the Maritime history of independent India. Prior to IRS, Arun Sharma was the President and CEO of India Steamship Company, which he had joined in March 2006. He re-engineered their fleet to modern double hull vessels while the tonnage grew to exceed 4,00,000 DWT.

IRS attained full membership of International Association of Classification Societies Ltd (IACS) on 22 June, 2010, after having to contend with the Associate membership for over a decade. Now having taken over as CMD Arun Sharma looks to capitalizing on the opportunities available since IRS recently got the approval as a “Recognized Organization” from important flag administrations including Panama, Liberia, Marshall Islands and 16 other Flag States. With a committed and competent task force at IRS, Mr. Sharma says that he is confident that IRS will grow from strength to strength in the coming years.

IRS focus has been on research and development. It has developed several technical software tools for in-house use as well as for the industry. This includes the well accepted “Shipmate”, which guides the master of the ship as well as the personnel on-board regarding the condition of the ship in real time, and how to manage the safety of the ship in case of grounding and other emergencies. Besides, it advises on how to mitigate the damage caused in an accident. It also indicates the current condition of the hull, so that repairs / renewals can be carried out in the most efficient manner. Another major development is the computer based training modules, which are eLearning modules for conducting surveys and carrying them out efficiently.

IRS set up their first overseas office in 1998 in Sri Lanka. Thereafter, they continued to increase their overseas footprint steadily. Today, they have established offices in ten cities across the globe - managing their operations resourcefully to provide worldwide services. Their Greece and London offices look after entire Europe; Houston covers the Americas; Dubai office takes care of UAE, the entire East is covered by IRS offices in Sri Lanka, Korea, Singapore, Bangkok and China. IRS also has arrangements with other foreign societies to act on reciprocal basis in the event of any emergency / accident occurring.

The organization is one of the founding members of the Association of Asian Classification Societies (ACS) comprising of Class NK of Japan, KR of Korea, CCS of China, IRS of India, BKI of Indonesia and VRS of Vietnam. The Association officially started last year and compliments the activities of IACS. One of the major activities is undertaking need based research for regulatory bodies and other shipping bodies in Asia.