Det Norske Veritas (DNV) is an autonomous and independent foundation established in 1864 with the objective of safeguarding life, property and the environment. The DNV organisation comprises 300 offices in 100 countries, with a staff of 4700. DNV's activity is primarily directed at four markets or business areas: maritime, offshore, process and general industries.

As one of the world's leading maritime classification societies, DNV establishes Rules for the construction of ships and mobile offshore platforms; some 15% of the world fleet are currently classed with DNV. To the land-based and offshore industries DNV provides certification of management systems, products and personnel. DNV is also a leading provider of consultancy services within safety, environment and quality management, as well as technical specialist services and software. DNV has extensive laboratory facilities at its head office at Høvik in Norway. DNV's laboratories are fully equipped to carry out mechanical testing of metallic materials, fibre-reinforced plastics, thermoplastics and elastomers.

DNV's Department for Strategic Research will be responsible for DNV's participation in the present project. This department has responsibility for applied strategic research for the entire DNV organization, with the aim of developing the technology and building up the expertise needed in key technology areas as a foundation for new and improved DNV products and services. The department_s work is carried out jointly with the DNV business units and in collaboration with external industry and research institutes. The department carries out technological surveys and both short and long term research and development projects. Some of these are internal DNV projects, but a large proportion is carried out jointly with external companies, research institutes and universities. DNV is currently engaged in several large-scale projects involving international collaboration.

The project is expected to lay the foundation for possible update of DNV codes, standards and recommended practices, as well as to provide a basis for new advisory services. It will help to give DNV a competitive advantage in this area.

DNV is in a process of revising and updating the DNV rules for floating structures, including the chapter on Position Mooring (POSMOOR) in DNV's Rules for Classification of Mobile Offshore Units. The project results will represent an important input to this work.