The big British classification and consulting company Lloyd’s Register does not seem to be feeling any immediate effects of the merger between its two major competitors DNV and GL last year. At least not when looking solely at the number of orders for vessel newbuildings. Here, the effect - to the extent that there has been any effect at all – is rather the opposite, namely that Lloyd’s Register (LR) has experienced a significant growth in the amount of orders in 2013 and into 2014.

According to several sources in the market, the number of newbuilding orders with LR has doubled in the first half of 2013, from 14 percent to 28 percent. However, there is no information whether this reflects the rebound that most observers take for granted now, which has thus led to a higher number of orders for new ships in late 2013, or whether this development is tied to a re-arrangement of customers in the market following the large merger. The increase was not maintained although LR apparently has kept its position as market leader.