According the IHS Fairplay web site:
Most of the “past” data collection that resulted in this intellectual property claim began much earlier than 2008, when IHS acquired minimal working majority rights over Lloyd’s Register --Fairplay.2 The collection of IHS’ maritime data originated in the late 18th century, when the London sea merchant interests and shipowners who met regularly in Edward Lloyd’s coffee house formed the Register Society in 1760. Four years later, the society published the first Register of Ships, which has been published annually since 1775. In 1834, the society was reorganized as Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping. Since the 1870’s the Register has tried to include all self-propelled, sea-going vessels over 100 GT.3
While Lloyd’s collected details on ships and owners,4 Thomas Hope Robinson founded Fairplay Publications, Ltd. In the 1883 inaugural issue of the preeminent magazine of the shipping trade, Fairplay International, Robinson famously wrote, "There is so little Fairplay in the world. If our own efforts succeed, we shall have taken the first steps towards promoting the habit of calling things by their right name and looking at them through uncoloured spectacles" -- a testament to the need for plain dealing and open records in maritime transactions. The quote has appeared on the Fairplay masthead ever since. The magazine was later acquired by John Prime of the Financial Times.5
Both Lloyd’s and Fairplay produced numerous other publications deemed critical to the maritime profession, and, in the late 20th century, entered the world of database publishing. In 2001, these two potentates of maritime information --Lloyd’s Register’s Maritime Information Publishing Group and Fairplay Publications, Ltd. (still a subsidiary of Prime)-- were merged to form the joint venture company, Lloyd’s Register -Fairplay.6
Included in the merger was the Lloyd’s Register of Ships. Over its many years collecting information on hull sizes, carrying capacity, classification surveys, modifications, vessel sales and vessel owners, Lloyd’s had by 1963 conceived a scheme to record every past registered vessel with a unique six-digit number between 500001-539966, and to continue recording future registrations with numbers 54XXXX or greater. The numbering system changed in 1964, when the first two digits of the Lloyd’s Number were replaced with the last two digits of the year of build (or, in the discovery of older vessels without a known date of build, the last two digits of the year of discovery). By 1973, LR numbers were assigned at the time of contract between builder and owner, rather than upon completion of build, so that the first two digits reflected the year of contract. The 1969-1970 registry was published showing a check digit, making the LLoyd’s number seven digits from then on. Lloyd’s anticipated and headed off the millennium crisis in 1991 by abandoning any system based on year of contract, build or discovery and instead resorting to straight sequential numbering.7
This numbering system became the de facto standard in the industry. Even if vessels already had flag registration numbers or the numbers of other class registrations, the addition of the “Lloyd’s number” provided the benefit of being assigned for the life of the ship, notwithstanding changes of ownership or flag.8 Indeed, as the Register expanded, it included the “official number” supplied by the flag state as well as additional details that could be used for cross-referencing information from other agencies and companies.9
IMO took advantage of this comprehensiveness when it passed Resolution A.600(15), enacting the “IMO Ship Identification Numbering Scheme” in 1987 as a measure aimed at enhancing "maritime safety, and pollution prevention and to facilitate the prevention of maritime fraud". Under the terms of the resolution, the IMO number would consist of the Lloyd’s number, prefixed by the letters “IMO.” From the outset, Lloyd’s Register was acknowledged as IMO’s official registrar, and parties seeking to obtain IMO numbers for their vessels were directed to Lloyd’s Register. The resolution stated that there would be no cost to apply for an IMO number, and that the Register’s reference service would answer ad hoc questions about existing ships free of charge “up to a reasonable point of acceptability.”
Nevertheless, the Register’s commercial rights were acknowledged from the beginning. The resolution indicated that IMO numbers and related ship information could be obtained through the annually published register, the weekly updates, or the “Seadata” database, all of which were for sale through Lloyd’s, and that pricing for such information would need to be obtained from Lloyd’s Register of Shipping. It was parenthetically noted that IMO was granted access to Seadata.10
Voluntary at first, after the 1994 passage of SOLAS Regulation XI/3 it became mandatory to include the IMO number in the ship’s on board documentation,11 In 2011 the IMO announced that SOLAS-compliant vessels would need to display the IMO number on the hull of the vessel. That the enhancement to safety justifies the additional cost of painting, embossing or otherwise putting seven digits on a ship’s hull has been disputed by organizations in the industry.12
A fact not to be disputed, however, is that when not attached to the Register’s vessel and owner information, the IMO number has no practical value. Linking the IMO number to ship data has always been predicated on a favored relationship with a company that had been collecting and organizing ship information for over two centuries. The numbering scheme itself was conceived by that company more than twenty years before Resolution A.600(15) proposed the assignment of IMO numbers, and the IMO number itself was no more than the company’s traditional number preceded by the letters “IMO.”
Without inquiring into private corporate details, it is difficult to estimate what profits accrued to the Register specifically because of its relationship with the IMO. Lloyd’s was in the business of selling its ship and owner information to begin with, and the universal number that marked a ship from contract to scrap was a Lloyd’s innovation predating the IMO’s intent to supply such a number for SOLAS purposes. The IMO has had gratis access to the registry data, and vessel registration has been free, as have been “reasonable” private inquiries of vessel IMO numbers. Since 1999, the IMO number has been freely searchable online through Equasis, a maritime database built from a community of port state control regimes, classification societies, P&I Clubs, and other “quality-minded maritime administrations,” including the Register.13
On the other hand, the costs for ship and shipping information, with or without the IMO number, can be considerable. A print publication of the 2012-2013 edition of the Register of Ships, now four volumes, lists at £1595.00. Single user access to the online version of Sea-web, a successor to Seadata, lists for £1995, despite saving the publisher the cost of printing, binding and shipping.14
This rising price of maritime information coincides with the rising cost of commercially published information generally. The 2001 merger that resulted in Lloyd’s Register --Fairplay typified the consolidation of publishing interests that has rarely resulted in reduced costs to the reader. But ownership of the Register still rested with a merger of two enterprises rooted in the maritime community. In December 2008, IHS, a data service that employs more than 5,500 people in over 30 countries, secured a 51.1 percent interest in LRF, and acquired the remaining 49.9 percent for $64 million the following year. IHS, which makes 70 percent of its revenues selling subscriptions to business, government and defense information, collected $1.3 billion in 2011. It is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, USA,15 more than 1500 kilometers from the nearest sea port.
IHS Fairplay is now the owner of the Register, and as such has inherited Lloyd’s special relationship with IMO regarding the registration of vessels. For IMO to withdraw from that relationship would require an arrangement with another registry service, if any can be found with the comprehensiveness bequeathed by Lloyd’s; or an extensive coordination among the separate registries, as is attempted in Equasis; or the building of its own database from the ground up.
Whatever valid options there are should address the ship type complexities recently resolved by “Statcode 5,” Among its more than 60 variables for recording ship information, the “ship type” field in Lloyd’s Register employed a popular 4-column system known as the Statcode. IHS Fairplay determined that this system did not go into enough detail for individual vessels, but that it was too widely used in the industry to be discarded. Thus, Statcode 5 adds a fifth column to the existing code. According to IHS Fairplay, the benefits of Statcode 5 are that it is:
Meanwhile, IHS Fairplay continues to provide vessel owners with IMO numbers for free, and contributes IMO numbers and portions of its “past and ongoing data collection,” to the Equasis project, which is free to search. Unfortunately for the cause of academic research, Equasis does not permit data mining and can only be searched one vessel or one company at a time. Limited mining for statistical purposes is possible on Sea-web and other commercially available data services. Those other commercial services, as quoted in the intellectual property claim at the opening of this narrative, must have IHS Fairplay’s prior written consent to offer IMO numbers in their product.
Notes:
1. "Unique Registered Owner and Company Identification Number Scheme: Permitted Use of Numbers," IMO Numbers LR Fairplay (c2012): http://www.imonumbers.lrfairplay.com/datause.aspx.
The IMO Registered Owner and Company Numbers are the result of past and ongoing data collection, data research and database activities of IHS Fairplay. The intellectual property rights in the Numbers belong to IHS Fairplay. Other than the IMO or Flag Administrations, it is not permitted to use these Numbers in any commercial database, commercial web-site or commercial data product, nor to distribute the Numbers for commercial gain, without the prior written agreement of IHS Fairplay.1
Most of the “past” data collection that resulted in this intellectual property claim began much earlier than 2008, when IHS acquired minimal working majority rights over Lloyd’s Register --Fairplay.2 The collection of IHS’ maritime data originated in the late 18th century, when the London sea merchant interests and shipowners who met regularly in Edward Lloyd’s coffee house formed the Register Society in 1760. Four years later, the society published the first Register of Ships, which has been published annually since 1775. In 1834, the society was reorganized as Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping. Since the 1870’s the Register has tried to include all self-propelled, sea-going vessels over 100 GT.3
While Lloyd’s collected details on ships and owners,4 Thomas Hope Robinson founded Fairplay Publications, Ltd. In the 1883 inaugural issue of the preeminent magazine of the shipping trade, Fairplay International, Robinson famously wrote, "There is so little Fairplay in the world. If our own efforts succeed, we shall have taken the first steps towards promoting the habit of calling things by their right name and looking at them through uncoloured spectacles" -- a testament to the need for plain dealing and open records in maritime transactions. The quote has appeared on the Fairplay masthead ever since. The magazine was later acquired by John Prime of the Financial Times.5
Both Lloyd’s and Fairplay produced numerous other publications deemed critical to the maritime profession, and, in the late 20th century, entered the world of database publishing. In 2001, these two potentates of maritime information --Lloyd’s Register’s Maritime Information Publishing Group and Fairplay Publications, Ltd. (still a subsidiary of Prime)-- were merged to form the joint venture company, Lloyd’s Register -Fairplay.6
Included in the merger was the Lloyd’s Register of Ships. Over its many years collecting information on hull sizes, carrying capacity, classification surveys, modifications, vessel sales and vessel owners, Lloyd’s had by 1963 conceived a scheme to record every past registered vessel with a unique six-digit number between 500001-539966, and to continue recording future registrations with numbers 54XXXX or greater. The numbering system changed in 1964, when the first two digits of the Lloyd’s Number were replaced with the last two digits of the year of build (or, in the discovery of older vessels without a known date of build, the last two digits of the year of discovery). By 1973, LR numbers were assigned at the time of contract between builder and owner, rather than upon completion of build, so that the first two digits reflected the year of contract. The 1969-1970 registry was published showing a check digit, making the LLoyd’s number seven digits from then on. Lloyd’s anticipated and headed off the millennium crisis in 1991 by abandoning any system based on year of contract, build or discovery and instead resorting to straight sequential numbering.7
This numbering system became the de facto standard in the industry. Even if vessels already had flag registration numbers or the numbers of other class registrations, the addition of the “Lloyd’s number” provided the benefit of being assigned for the life of the ship, notwithstanding changes of ownership or flag.8 Indeed, as the Register expanded, it included the “official number” supplied by the flag state as well as additional details that could be used for cross-referencing information from other agencies and companies.9
IMO took advantage of this comprehensiveness when it passed Resolution A.600(15), enacting the “IMO Ship Identification Numbering Scheme” in 1987 as a measure aimed at enhancing "maritime safety, and pollution prevention and to facilitate the prevention of maritime fraud". Under the terms of the resolution, the IMO number would consist of the Lloyd’s number, prefixed by the letters “IMO.” From the outset, Lloyd’s Register was acknowledged as IMO’s official registrar, and parties seeking to obtain IMO numbers for their vessels were directed to Lloyd’s Register. The resolution stated that there would be no cost to apply for an IMO number, and that the Register’s reference service would answer ad hoc questions about existing ships free of charge “up to a reasonable point of acceptability.”
Nevertheless, the Register’s commercial rights were acknowledged from the beginning. The resolution indicated that IMO numbers and related ship information could be obtained through the annually published register, the weekly updates, or the “Seadata” database, all of which were for sale through Lloyd’s, and that pricing for such information would need to be obtained from Lloyd’s Register of Shipping. It was parenthetically noted that IMO was granted access to Seadata.10
Voluntary at first, after the 1994 passage of SOLAS Regulation XI/3 it became mandatory to include the IMO number in the ship’s on board documentation,11 In 2011 the IMO announced that SOLAS-compliant vessels would need to display the IMO number on the hull of the vessel. That the enhancement to safety justifies the additional cost of painting, embossing or otherwise putting seven digits on a ship’s hull has been disputed by organizations in the industry.12
A fact not to be disputed, however, is that when not attached to the Register’s vessel and owner information, the IMO number has no practical value. Linking the IMO number to ship data has always been predicated on a favored relationship with a company that had been collecting and organizing ship information for over two centuries. The numbering scheme itself was conceived by that company more than twenty years before Resolution A.600(15) proposed the assignment of IMO numbers, and the IMO number itself was no more than the company’s traditional number preceded by the letters “IMO.”
Without inquiring into private corporate details, it is difficult to estimate what profits accrued to the Register specifically because of its relationship with the IMO. Lloyd’s was in the business of selling its ship and owner information to begin with, and the universal number that marked a ship from contract to scrap was a Lloyd’s innovation predating the IMO’s intent to supply such a number for SOLAS purposes. The IMO has had gratis access to the registry data, and vessel registration has been free, as have been “reasonable” private inquiries of vessel IMO numbers. Since 1999, the IMO number has been freely searchable online through Equasis, a maritime database built from a community of port state control regimes, classification societies, P&I Clubs, and other “quality-minded maritime administrations,” including the Register.13
On the other hand, the costs for ship and shipping information, with or without the IMO number, can be considerable. A print publication of the 2012-2013 edition of the Register of Ships, now four volumes, lists at £1595.00. Single user access to the online version of Sea-web, a successor to Seadata, lists for £1995, despite saving the publisher the cost of printing, binding and shipping.14
This rising price of maritime information coincides with the rising cost of commercially published information generally. The 2001 merger that resulted in Lloyd’s Register --Fairplay typified the consolidation of publishing interests that has rarely resulted in reduced costs to the reader. But ownership of the Register still rested with a merger of two enterprises rooted in the maritime community. In December 2008, IHS, a data service that employs more than 5,500 people in over 30 countries, secured a 51.1 percent interest in LRF, and acquired the remaining 49.9 percent for $64 million the following year. IHS, which makes 70 percent of its revenues selling subscriptions to business, government and defense information, collected $1.3 billion in 2011. It is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, USA,15 more than 1500 kilometers from the nearest sea port.
IHS Fairplay is now the owner of the Register, and as such has inherited Lloyd’s special relationship with IMO regarding the registration of vessels. For IMO to withdraw from that relationship would require an arrangement with another registry service, if any can be found with the comprehensiveness bequeathed by Lloyd’s; or an extensive coordination among the separate registries, as is attempted in Equasis; or the building of its own database from the ground up.
Whatever valid options there are should address the ship type complexities recently resolved by “Statcode 5,” Among its more than 60 variables for recording ship information, the “ship type” field in Lloyd’s Register employed a popular 4-column system known as the Statcode. IHS Fairplay determined that this system did not go into enough detail for individual vessels, but that it was too widely used in the industry to be discarded. Thus, Statcode 5 adds a fifth column to the existing code. According to IHS Fairplay, the benefits of Statcode 5 are that it is:
●
easy to use, versatile, expandable and flexible
●
allows users to perform both simple and complex
interrogation across all levels
●
allows specific micro-analysis
●
works in sympathy and enhances existing systems and
time-series legacies
●
allows for even further cross-section analysis using
new back in coding system
●
will be provided with a full set of vessel type
definitions to assist with accurate selection of codes
Fairplay states that its new code
has been vetted by “key clients and members of the International Maritime
Statistics Forum.” Effective in 2012, “it is already being incorporated
into [IHS Fairplay] products and all new data production requests are being
supplied as Statcode 5 compliant.”16
Meanwhile, IHS Fairplay continues to provide vessel owners with IMO numbers for free, and contributes IMO numbers and portions of its “past and ongoing data collection,” to the Equasis project, which is free to search. Unfortunately for the cause of academic research, Equasis does not permit data mining and can only be searched one vessel or one company at a time. Limited mining for statistical purposes is possible on Sea-web and other commercially available data services. Those other commercial services, as quoted in the intellectual property claim at the opening of this narrative, must have IHS Fairplay’s prior written consent to offer IMO numbers in their product.
Notes:
1. "Unique Registered Owner and Company Identification Number Scheme: Permitted Use of Numbers," IMO Numbers LR Fairplay (c2012): http://www.imonumbers.lrfairplay.com/datause.aspx.
2. IHS Fairplay, “About Lloyd's Register - Fairplay”, Sea-Web (c2012): http://www.sea-web.com/about.html.
3. IHS Fairplay, “Lloyd's Register Fairplay: what's in a name?” Brochure (London: 2008?): http://tinyurl.com/Lloyds-Name; Lloyd's Register Group, "Frequently asked questions,"Lloyd's Register (London, c2012): http://tinyurl.com/Lloyds-Register-history.
4. Lloyd's Register Group.” Infosheet no. 34: Researching the earliest registers,” Lloyd’s Register (London: 2011.) http://tinyurl.com/Lloyds-searching.
5. “Fairplay (magazine),” Wikipedia (last modified 29 Aug 2010): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairplay_(magazine).
6. “What’s in a name?” op. cit.
7. Lloyd's Register Group., “Infosheet no. 45: Lloyd’s Register/International Maritime Organisation Numbers,” Brochure, Lloyd's Register (London: 2011): http://tinyurl.com/Lloyds-Number.
8. LLoyd’s Register Group, “Frequently Asked Questions,” op. cit., http://tinyurl.com/Lloyds-standard.
9. Lloyd's Register - Fairplay, Register of ships: 2007-08. Vol. T-Z. (Surrey: Lloyd's Register - Fairplay c2007), pp. iv-xii.
10. International Maritime Organization, “IMO. Res. A.600(15): IMO ship identification number scheme,” (London: 19 Nov., 1987): http://tinyurl.com/Res600.
11. "IMO numbering scheme". IMO Circular letter no. 1886/Rev 3 (London: 2011): http://tinyurl.com/IMO-Circ1886.
12. "IMO requirement for ship number will cost $25 M." Balitang Marino (accessed 7 Aug. 2012): http://www.balitangmarino.com/000958.html.
13. “About Equasis,” Equasis (c2011): http://tinyurl.com/equasis-providers, http://tinyurl.com/equasis-participation.
14. “IHS Fairplay Register of Ships,” IHS (2012): http://www.ihs.com/products/maritime-information/ships/register.aspx; “IHS Fairplay Sea-web,” IHS (2012): http://www.ihs.com/products/maritime-information/ships/sea-web.aspx
16. Lloyd’s Register - Fairplay, “Setting Industry Standards,” IHS Fairplay (c2012): http://www.ihsfairplay.com/about/imo_standards/Setting_Industry_Standards.pdf.
