Marine Industry Standards of the U.S. and the World

This paper provides an overview of standards developed or invoked by national and international organizations for the marine industry. Data on standards promulgated by U.S. voluntary and government organizations are presented and compared with those standards available to shipbuilders in other nations. The sources of international and national mandatory standards are reviewed and the U.S. standards system is compared with those of other nations. A critical deficiency in the United States is the relatively small number of fully definitive voluntary standards that can be used for competitive procurement. Recommended action by the marine industry and the standardization community is presented, focusing on the need to effectively apply the limited resources that are available.