Norwegian classification society Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and German classification society Germanischer Lloyd have agreed to merge their respective businesses in 2013. The new entity will be called DNV GL Group, reports Forbes.
If approved, this merger will be responsible for classing a combined tonnage of 265 million gross tons of ships and rigs worldwide making it the largest classification society in the world, and de-throning ClassNK from the top ranking.
This merger brings a very interesting combination of expertise together. Both companies were founded in the mid-19th century with the mission to promote “Safeguarding life, property, and the environment” with respect to maritime shipping. Since then, both companies have expanded their operations and furthered their mission into other industrial sectors such as offshore oil and gas, renewables, and the power sectors.
DNV, with headquarters in Oslo, Norway is widely regarded for their expertise in the offshore energy sector, a talent developed while pioneering the development of harsh environment oil fields offshore Norway, and around the world, over the past few decades. Besides the maritime and offshore oil and gas sectors, DNV has further diversified their business over the years to cover the aviation, energy, healthcare, food and beverage, IT and telecom, petrochemical and rail sectors with offices in 100 countries.
Germanischer Lloyd, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany has a strong reputation in the maritime sector, and is known for their particular expertise in the containership sector. Through a number of acquisitions between 2004 and 2010 however, GL gained formidable strength in the offshore oil and gas sector which culminated in 2010 when they acquired London-based offshore consultancy Noble Denton.
The new DNV GL Group will have a strengthened foothold in several areas of expertise, including the maritime segment and across the entire oil & gas value chains. The Group will be one of the global leaders in pipeline verification and asset integrity services as well as in renewable energy certification and advisory services. Moreover, it will be a strong player within power transmission and distribution as well as testing and certification services. To enhance its service offering the DNV GL Group plans to strengthen its focus on R&D and innovation.
The maritime business unit will be headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, while maintaining its commitment to the Norwegian maritime cluster. Oil & Gas will be headquartered at Høvik, Norway, while Energy will be headquartered in Arnhem, the Netherlands and Business Assurance in Milan, Italy. DNV GL Group will be organised as a Norwegian limited company (AS).
