Lloyd’s Register

First for trusted advice

We were the world’s first marine classification society, founded more than 260 years ago to improve the safety of ships. We partner with clients to drive safety and performance across the maritime industry – offering advice and support to help them meet their ambitions.

The first to share our knowledge and experience, we work with our clients and other industry stakeholders, to make real change happen.

Our technical expertise is offered in multiple global locations, serving clients across the world. Our people are flexible, quick to act and easy to work with.

The beginnings of classification

In 1760, a group of marine underwriters and brokers, who were regular customers at Edward Lloyd’s coffee house in the City of London, formed a committee to assess the shipping risks to which they were exposed. They employed a small team of surveyors, most probably retired master mariners and veteran craftsmen, to examine ships and “classify” them according to their condition (hence the term “classification society”). The results were published in a Register of Ships, the earliest known printed volume appearing in 1764.

Since then, ship classification has remained the basis of LR’s work, although nowadays there is only one standard to which all classed ships must conform, expressed by the designation “100A1”.

Impartiality

LR’s present constitution originated in 1834, when it amalgamated with a rival register produced by British shipowners, taking the title of Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping. Its immediate task was to define impartial measures of quality and, from 1834, the first Rules appeared in the Registers. The governing body of the new organisation, the General Committee, included members from all sections of the shipping community. This is a feature which, to this day, guarantees LR’s complete impartiality.

LR Rules and Regulations

LR’s Rules for the construction and maintenance of ships constitute the criteria for classification. The first Rules related only to wooden ships, but their scope has repeatedly expanded to keep pace with developments in shipbuilding and engineering. Since 1890, LR’s Technical Committee has been responsible for recommending changes in the existing Rules or adopting new ones.

National representation

After the set-up of the General Committee, LR began to create its network of national committees, consisting of representatives from shipping, ship and engine building and insurance companies. Chairmen of the national committees are ex-officio members of the LR’s General Committee, who act in an advisory and consultative capacity to ensure that local industry interests are understood and taken into consideration in the development of LR policy and services. A combined Australian and New Zealand Committee was formed in 1950, later becoming two separate committees in 1956.

Business focus in Australia

Our activities have increasingly diversified over the years. While large shipbuilding in Australia has diminished with the closure of many local yards, notably at Whyalla and Newcastle, the construction of smaller, more specialised ships has flourished. LR has been involved in many projects of notable designs, with Australian designers and builders at the forefront of such developments. In response, LR developed the Special Service Craft Rules, a set of requirements well-received within the industry.

LR has also been working with the Royal Australian Navy on multiple naval projects. In 2020, we opened a Naval Liaison Office in Sydney to enhance our focused support to the naval sector within the region.

Since the early 1980s, we have been involved in the offshore industry in Australia by providing inspection and certification services to notable clients such as Woodside Offshore Petroleum, BHP Petroleum, Wandoo Alliance and many others.

Our Australian team

Today, we have six offices and 52 employees in Australia. Most of the team are surveyors and specialists covering different technical disciplines. We are here to support your business operations. By using our knowledge and technical expertise, we will work with you to advance safety and performance and inspire solutions to tackle our industry’s most pressing challenges, navigating through the journey of energy transition and digital transformation.

LR Foundation

LR is wholly owned by LR Foundation, a politically and financially independent global charity that aims to engineer a safer world through promoting safety and education. For a thriving ocean economy, LR and LR Foundation work together through a shared social purpose mission to make the world a safer place by funding research, fostering industry collaboration and developing action-oriented solutions.

The Foundation attends to the most pressing global safety challenges, establishing the best evidence and insight to better understand the complex factors that affect safety, and by building partnerships for change.

LR Foundation reduces risk and enhances the safety of the critical infrastructure that modern society relies on. It focuses on areas such as energy, transport and food by supporting high-quality research and accelerating technology through education and public outreach.