Business & Money | Thursday 4 June, 2015 12:35 am |

In a business move that places it in the ranks of major international classification societies, “Tasneef” signs an agreement to issue inspection and quality certificates for two container ships owned by Abu Dhabi National Tanker Company (ADNATCO), one of the largest tanker and ship-building companies in the UAE

as part of its strategy to provide a national and an Arab alternative for classification services and the issuance of inspection and technical examination certificates for ships and maritime facilities in the Arab region; Emirates Classification Society “Tasneef” signed an agreement considered the first of its kind to issue classification and calibration certificates for two of ADNATCO’s container ships (AL BAZM-II, AL SADR-I). These two vessels are the first of their kind to be classified by the Tasneef; in addition to conducting classification and legal surveying under the national flag; and accrediting the designs by its engineering department, Tasneef will also provide technical support and consulting service for ADNATCO.
This agreement between “Tasneef” and ADNATCO, one of the largest and most important national tanker companies in the UAE, is a significant opportunity to build a continuous cooperation among all sectors concerned with maritime and classification services in the country.
In this context, Eng. Rashed AlHebsi, CEO of Tasneef said “Our agreement with ADNATCO is considered as significant step to improve our services and the classes of ships we classify, and it represents a push to establish ourselves in the classification industry nationally and regionally, just like when we used to depend on container ship rental services from other countries and today we are proud to have major fleets completely owned by national companies such as ADNATCO”.
AlHebsi added “We promise our partners in ADNATCO and other national companies contracting with us that we will provide classification and inspection services with a quality comparable to, if not exceeding those services provided by foreign classification societies because we know this region and we understand its characteristics, and we succeeded in developing technical standards that raise safety standards and operational savings by up to 15%”.
Furthermore, Mr. Saif AlRashidi, Fleet Support Manager at “Tasneef” explained the details of the agreement saying “We will provide many services for ADNATCO’s ships such as legal surveying in accordance with international and local conventions, consulting services, and training services for company employees in addition to non-periodical surveys relating to damages and technical failures”.
On his part, Dr. Ali Obaid Al-Yabhouni, CEO of ADNATCO and NGSCO, expressed his optimism with the future opportunities resulting from this agreement saying “We signed this agreement to classify two of our container ships by Tasneef, with complete coverage of classification and legal requirements. This step represents the beginning of a long standing cooperative relationship between us, and we are currently working on expanding our cooperation in the future to include a wider range of offshore container ships”.

Al-Yabhouni also clarified the importance of “Tasneef” as a national society exerting sustainable efforts in order to reduce dependence on foreign classification societies and provide an Arab alternative with national expertise saying “Tasneef exerted great efforts in order to earn the trust of ship owners which made “ADNATCO and NGSCO” commit to providing necessary support to a national classification society and promote the UAE flag”.
It is expected that the returns of this agreement will be great for Tasneef as it will open up more channels to market its services in the region, it will also strengthen and encourage national partnerships in order to reach a higher goal which is building a core for a maritime economic system in the UAE and that covers the entire Arab region.
Tasneef-ADNTACO partnership comes after signing similar agreements with Esnaad, the National Drilling Company (NDC), Abu Dhabi Ports, and Dry Docks World in addition to many national and regional companies and authorities. Tasneef was also accredited by GCC countries to issue compliance and quality services in accordance with GCC specifications; in addition to being accredited by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to classify ships and provide maritime consulting and training services. Tasneef is aiming to take over 50% of the classification services market in the Arab world currently taken up by foreign classification societies.


About Tasneef
Tasneef was established in 2012 and is headquartered in Abu Dhabi. The main activity is the classification of ships, maritime consulting and project management. Tasneef is already a member of the Dubai Council for Marine & Maritime Industries, which is an umbrella body promoting the interests of the industry. Tasneef is the first national authority aiming to raise the efficiency and specifications of ships, compliance with international standards and their application on both national and international companies thus; opening up new horizons for national engineers to work in the maritime sector.