The Germanischer Lloyd SE was a classification society based in the city of Hamburg, Germany. It ceased to exist as an independent entity in September 2013 as a result of its merger with Norway's DNV (Det Norske Veritas) to become DNV GL.[1]
Before the merger, as a technical supervisory organization, Germanischer Lloyd conducted safety surveys on more than 7,000 ships with over 100 Mio GT.[2] Its technical and engineering services also included the mitigation of risks and assurance of technical compliance for oil, gas, and industrial installations, as well as wind energy parks.
History
Germanischer Lloyd, former headquarters in HamburgShare of the Germanischer Lloyd AG, issued 16. December 1924
On 16 March 1867, a group of 600 shipowners, shipbuilders and insurers met in the big hall of the Hamburg Stock Exchange on the occasion of the founding convention of Germanischer Lloyd. On behalf of the founding committee, the merchant and shipowner August Behn signed the statute of the young institution. The founding committee consisted of representatives of shipowners J.C. Godeffroy & Sohn, A.J. Schön & Co., A.J. Hertz & Söhne, as well as R.M. Sloman. The new society was founded as a non-profit association based in Hamburg.
The reason for forming a German classification society was to achieve transparency. Merchants, shipowners, and insurers used to get little information about the state of a ship. As an independent classification society, Germanischer Lloyd was created to evaluate the quality of ships and deliver the results to shipowners, merchants, and insurers.
First classifications were based on construction rules developed by Friedrich Schüler, a shipbuilder from Stettin-Grabow, Prussia (later the German Empire). GL's first international ship classification register from 1868 reports 273 classed ships – 26 of them under a foreign flag. In 1877, ten times more classed ships were registered. As a consequence, the surveyor network extended rapidly. By 1869, GL had surveyors in a dozen German seaports and outside Germany in St Petersburg, Copenhagen, London, Liverpool, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Swatow, Amoy, Penang, and Singapore.
Iron and steam ships became more and more popular, slowly replacing wooden sailing vessels. After years of economic difficulties, Imperial Chancellor Bismarck took charge of the situation by announcing a commission. Its advice: The association ought to turn into a public company. The change was finalised at a general assembly which took place on 5 October 1889.
In 1894 as the economic situation improved, Germanischer Lloyd decided to extend its service by teaming up with the German maritime authority See-Berufsgenossenschaft[de] (SeeBG), which was founded in 1887. While the SeeBG issued rules for accident prevention and checked for their compliance, GL provided support as technical adviser. The collaboration between both parties has lasted until today.
As a classification society, Germanischer Lloyd has always focused on ship safety.[citation needed] The importance of the subject became clear with the Titanic disaster in 1912. Two years later, a GL director attended the "Titanic" conference as a representative of the German government. At this point, 10 per cent of the world's merchant fleet was classed by Germanischer Lloyd. The First World War, however, was a severe set-back.
International relationships were discontinued and foreign ships changed class. After the war things started to improve again. By 1939, the register contained 4.7million GRT (gross register tons). Then the Second World War left its mark: the headquarters was destroyed, offices bombed out, and overseas agencies lost. Most files were abolished or confiscated. The Allied Control Council eventually allowed advocates from the shipping, shipbuilding, and ship insurance industry to obtain a temporary licence for the company; it became permanent in 1948. Following the war, Germany's economic recovery led to rapid development: within seven years the classed tonnage increased from 400,000 to three million GT.
The company continued to grow. Large-capacity computers enabled the design and construction of bigger and more modern ships. Container ships were developed to satisfy the increasing consumer demand for goods. These open vessels were a lot more vulnerable to torsion and a particular challenge for design engineers. GL invested in research resulting in new construction rules for container ships.
At the beginning of the 1970s, offshore technology became an important field of activity for Germanischer Lloyd. In 1973, working on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Research and Technology, the society surveyed the construction of the research platform “North Sea and supervised its installation to the north-west of the German island Helgoland. GL was also involved in the installation of the first German oil production platforms “Mittelplate, located in the Wadden Sea, and Schwedeneck, located in the Baltic Sea at the German Bight off Kiel, Germany. Many other offshore technology projects followed and the work continues today[when?].
In 1977, wind energy was introduced as a new business segment. This diversification, originally started in the 1960s, prevented the society from being severely affected by the shipbuilding crisis in the first half of the 1980s.
In the autumn of 2006, French rival Bureau Veritas launched a hostile takeover bid but this was defeated through the support of Hamburg-based entrepreneur Günter Herz.[3] Subsequently, 100% of the shares of the company had been acquired by the Herz family office Mayfair.
Status Preceding the Merger
Main entrance of the new headquarter in the HafenCity
Before the merger, Germanischer Lloyd served from a global network of 176 offices in 80 countries, employing some 7,000 people. 124 flag states had authorized GL to perform statutory duties. According to annually published Port State Control statistics, Germanischer Lloyd has been ranking amongst the top classification societies.[4]
After the acquisition of GL by Günter Herz, the group expanded its activities in the energy markets. The acquisitions of Advantica[5][6] (UK) in 2007 and Trident[7] (Malaysia) in 2008 has broadened the service scope to consultancy services in the oil and gas sectors. The merger with Noble Denton[8][9] (UK) in 2009 further expanded its activities in offshore technical services and the acquisitions of PVI[10][11] (Canada) in 2007, MCS[11] (US) in 2008, and IRS (Singapore) in 2009 grew its inspection business.
In the oil & gas business segment Germanischer Lloyd's range of services then covered all major asset types including oil and gas exploration and production assets like rigs, drill ships or FPSOs, storage facilities, subsea technology, LNG terminals, and pipelines, as well as gas, electricity, and water distribution networks. The Group offers certification, inspection, and consulting services as well as software for the installation, operation, and decommissioning phase. Typical projects were owners engineering services, marine warranty services, due diligence studies, risk & safety work, integrity management, flow assurance studies, front end engineering services, or third party certification work. As of 1 January 2010 the oil and gas business operates under the brand GL Noble Denton.
In the renewables segment, GL acquired Helimax (Canada) in 2007, Windtest (Germany) in 2008 and merged with Garrad Hassan[12][13] (UK) in 2009 making it the world's largest renewable energy consultancy with more than 600 dedicated engineers providing technical consulting services to the onshore and offshore wind, wave, tidal, and solar industries. It is active in 18 countries with major bases in the UK, US, Canada, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Italy, India, and China.
The new renewables business, GL Garrad Hassan, has Andrew Garrad, the cofounder of Garrad Hassan as its president. Its services included wind turbine type certification, design consultancy, energy yield assessments, project management, site assessments, permitting, front end engineering, due diligence, software for wind parks, solar plants and turbine design, wind and solar forecasting, and renewable plant operations improvement services.
GL Software
GL's Software Solutions practice was a global provider of engineering and commercial software and services to oil, gas, petrochemical, water, wind, power, and shipbuilding companies.
Applications were Natural Gas Forecasting, Pipeline Data Integrity, Oil Reservoir Modelling, Gas Mains Replacement, and Regulatory Compliance. Additional solutions include Network Development Services (SynerGEE Gas, SynerGEE Electric, & SynerGEE Water), Pipeline Management Solutions (SPS), and Asset Integrity Systems (GALIOM) which combined AIM and risk-based inspection solutions for any oil, gas, or petrochemical facility or power plant.
In renewable energies the merger with Garrad Hassan provided software set for turbine design (GH Bladed), wind farm design (GH WindFarmer), and a SCADA System (GH SCADA) that can integrate data from all major turbine manufacturers.
The acquisition of Friendship Systems at the beginning of 2009 added the CAE integration platform FRIENDSHIP-Framework to GL's software portfolio. The software could be applied to the design and optimization of ship hulls, propellers, appendages, turbine blades, pump casings, and other types of functional, flow-exposed surfaces.
Today
In September 2013, GL merged with DNV (Det Norske Veritas) to become DNV GL. In March 2021, DNV GL was renamed to DNV. They now form the world's largest ship and offshore classification society.
KEMA NV, established in 1927, is a global energy consultancy company headquartered in Arnhem, Netherlands. It offers management consulting, technology consulting & services to the energy value chain that include business and technical consultancy, operational support, measurements & inspection, and testing & certification services.
The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) is an American maritime classification society established in 1862. Its stated mission to promote the security of life, property and the natural environment, primarily through the development and verification of standards for the design, construction and operational maintenance of marine and offshore assets.
A ship classification society or ship classification organisation is a non-governmental organization that establishes and maintains technical standards for the construction and operation of ships and offshore structures. Classification societies certify that the construction of a vessel comply with relevant standards and carry out regular surveys in service to ensure continuing compliance with the standards. Currently, more than 50 organizations describe their activities as including marine classification, twelve of which are members of the International Association of Classification Societies.
Southwest Windpower (SWWP) was a wind turbine manufacturer established in 1987 based in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. The company specialized in small, reliable battery charging wind generators that complement photovoltaics in supplying energy to rural areas.
Specialized wind energy software applications aid in the development and operation of wind farms.
A floating wind turbine is an offshore wind turbine mounted on a floating structure that allows the turbine to generate electricity in water depths where fixed-foundation turbines are not feasible. Floating wind farms have the potential to significantly increase the sea area available for offshore wind farms, especially in countries with limited shallow waters, such as Japan, France and US West coast. Locating wind farms further offshore can also reduce visual pollution, provide better accommodation for fishing and shipping lanes, and reach stronger and more consistent winds.
Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of capacity installed. Offshore wind farms are also less controversial than those on land, as they have less impact on people and the landscape.
Mayfair Vermögensverwaltung SE is the family office of the families of Günter Herz and Daniela Herz. It invests in long term holdings of companies, short term assets like stocks and bonds, and real estate.
GE Wind Energy is a branch of GE Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of General Electric. The company manufactures and sells wind turbines to the international market. In 2018, GE was the fourth largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world.
GL Noble Denton is one of the oil and gas businesses of DNV GL, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany and London, UK. The company is an independent technical advisor to industry operators across the world.
DNV is an international accredited registrar and classification society headquartered in Høvik, Norway. The company currently has about 12,000 employees and 350 offices operating in more than 100 countries, and provides services for several industries including maritime, oil & gas, renewable energy, electrification, food & beverage and healthcare. DNV GL was created in 2013 as a result of a merger between two leading organizations in the field — Det Norske Veritas (Norway) and Germanischer Lloyd (Germany). In 2021, DNV GL changed its name to DNV, while retaining its post-merger structure.
Ship Management - as the name implies, deals with the management of ships. The vessels under management could be owned by a sister concern of the ship management company or by independent vessel owners. A vessel owning company that generally has several vessels in its fleet, entrusts the fleet management to a single or multiple ship management companies. Ship management is often entrusted to third parties due to the various hassles that are involved in managing a ship. For instance, ships could be considered as large factories that travel across seas under various weather conditions for several days at a stretch. These vessels are equipped with several types of machinery that require appropriate maintenance and the associated spares on board. In the scenario of a vessel lacking adequate maintenance, this could lead to the breakdown of the equipment in the middle of a voyage at sea. A breakdown could be an expensive affair. A second scenario would be – a vessel is continuously on the move or under some sort of activity and hence requires to be manned by a competent crew. The documents of the crew need to comply with international regulations, their transportation to and from the vessel must be arranged for, their competencies must align with the requirement of the vessel and must complement the skillsets of the existing onboard crew. Hence several parameters must be considered which is a tedious job. In order to ensure such scenarios are considered for and to provide adequate attention to the vessels, ship owners outsource the management. Several management companies provide the owner with a crew on board. When the ship comes out of the shipyard the management company takes it over providing technical management to the owner. Most Management companies also offer other services like inspection prior to purchase, supervision during building, crew management and supply and ship lay-up solutions.
Integrated Software Dependent Systems (ISDS) is an offshore standard (DNV-OS-D203) and recommended practice guideline (DNV-RP-D201) covering systems and software verifications and classification of any integrated system that utilizes extensive software control. The ISDS Recommended Practice (DNV-RP-D201) was launched in 2008 by Det Norske Veritas (DNV), the Norwegian classification society. DNV Offshore Standard OS-D203 launched in April 2010.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to wind energy:
A wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) is a vessel specifically designed for the installation of offshore wind turbines. There were 16 vessels in 2020.
The Offshore and Onshore Reliability Data (OREDA) project was established in 1981 in cooperation with the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. It is "one of the main reliability data sources for the oil and gas industry" and considered "a unique data source on failure rates, failure mode distribution and repair times for equipment used in the offshore industr[y]. OREDA's original objective was the collection of petroleum industry safety equipment reliability data. The current organization, as a cooperating group of several petroleum and natural gas companies, was established in 1983, and at the same time the scope of OREDA was extended to cover reliability data from a wide range of equipment used in oil and gas exploration and production (E&P). OREDA primarily covers offshore, subsea and topside equipment, but does also include some onshore E&P, and some downstream equipment as well.
Andrew Garrad is an engineer and businessman and one of the pioneers of the modern wind energy industry. In 1984 he co-founded the consulting company Garrad Hassan ("GH") which supported the industry through design consultancy, testing, measurements, energy evaluation and technical due diligence. Software and services provided by GH became widely used. GH grew up with the modern wind energy industry.
Seawind Ocean Technology B.V., a Netherlands based company, is a manufacturer (OEM) of integrated floating wind turbine and green hydrogen systems. Seawind is developing two-bladed floating wind turbines suitable for installation in all seas, including hurricane regions and ultra-deep waters. Founded on original research and development work by NASA, Hamilton Standard, Enel, and Aeritalia; Seawind's offshore wind power turbines with integrated foundations have been patented, proven at 1.5 MW, and achieved Type D DNV certification in December 2019. The company is now planning the launch of its Seawind 6 demonstrator to be followed by the pre-series Seawind 12, a project earmarked for installation as early as 2024-25 that seeks to obtain DNV's highest certification level.
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