Approved Service Suppliers vs Workshops: What the Register Shows

Two separate lists sit behind the phrase "approved service supplier" in classification work, and mixing them up is one of the more common mistakes procurement and technical teams make. One list covers companies approved to inspect, test, maintain or service equipment already fitted on board: fire-fighting gear, lifeboats, radios, ballast water systems, hulls checked by divers. The other covers manufacturers and workshops approved to produce the materials and parts that go into new construction or repair: forgings, castings, pipes, plates. Both sit in the same approval register, but the scopes, the companies holding them and the risk profile for a buyer are different enough to be worth pulling apart.

This piece works through both lists as they stand in our approval register, current as of September 2026, together with a directory of firms in our own network whose profiles point toward the same kind of service and inspection work. It is written for technical superintendents, procurement staff, yard planners and service coordinators who need to know not only that a supplier is approved, but exactly what that approval covers, where the company sits, and how close the approval is to running out.

None of the figures below describe the market as a whole. They describe what is recorded in our register and in our directory - a sample large enough to show real patterns in scope, country and expiry, but not a census of every approved supplier or workshop worldwide.

What our register shows for approved service suppliers and workshops

In our approval register, the Approval of Service Suppliers list carries 3281 certificates covering 2210 companies. The Manufacturers / Workshops list is smaller but still substantial, at 2333 certificates covering 1954 companies. Both lists therefore include a number of companies holding more than one certificate, since the certificate count runs ahead of the company count in each case.

Every one of these certificates is currently on file as valid: the status field in our data returns 3281 valid entries for service suppliers and 2333 valid entries for manufacturers and workshops, with no expired or revoked records showing in either list at the time this register was compiled.

Approval scopes: what these companies are certified to do

Among approved service suppliers, the largest scopes by number of companies are the routine safety-equipment checks that fall due on a fixed cycle on almost every ship:

• Inspection and maintenance of fire-extinguishing equipment and self-contained breathing apparatus - 432 companies, the single largest scope on the service-supplier list, covering portable extinguishers, fixed systems and breathing sets.
• Thickness measurements - 418 companies, the steel-renewal survey work that determines whether hull or tank plating needs replacing.
• In-water survey by diver - 409 companies, used to support or defer underwater hull surveys instead of drydocking.
• Inspection and testing of radio communication equipment and automatic identification systems - 329 companies, covering the radios and AIS transponders required for distress communication and navigation.
• Maintenance, thorough examination, operational testing, overhaul and repair of lifeboats and rescue boats, launching appliances and release gear - 308 companies.
• Annual performance testing of voyage data recorders and simplified voyage data recorders - 243 companies.
• Non-destructive testing on classification projects - 240 companies.
• Service of inflatable liferafts, inflatable lifejackets, hydrostatic release units and marine evacuation systems - 235 companies.

Further down the same list are more specialised scopes: in-water survey combining diver and remotely operated vehicle work (97 companies), close-up structural survey using remote inspection techniques (94), commissioning testing of ballast water management systems (48), preparation of inventory of hazardous materials (35), and the two comfort-class measurement scopes, noise and vibration (15) and indoor climate (6). Sample entries on this list include Codar Pte. Ltd. in Singapore, approved for radio and AIS equipment inspection and testing, and Sri Bhavani Under Water Services in India, approved for in-water survey by diver.

The Manufacturers / Workshops list reads differently, because it covers material and component production rather than shipboard servicing:

• Steel forgings - 149 companies, the largest single scope on this list, covering forged components used in shafting, fittings and structural parts.
• Steel castings - 99 companies.
• Steel pipes - 64 companies.
• Grey and nodular cast iron - 60 companies.
• Heat treatment workshop - 59 companies, the post-forming heat treatment that gives cast and forged parts their final mechanical properties.
• Plates - 50 companies, rolled steel plate for hull and structural work.

A number of these scopes appear more than once in the register under slightly different wording or capitalisation - Steel Forgings shows up again with 56 companies, Steel Castings with 26, and Steel Pipes with 18 - which is worth remembering when searching the data for an exact scope rather than assuming one entry captures the whole category. Sample entries include G+S Schlauchtechnik GmbH in Germany, approved for non-metallic flexible hose assembly, TK Corporation in the Republic of Korea, approved for pipe fittings, and Nucor Steel Memphis, Inc. in the United States, approved for steelmaking.

Who holds the approvals

China leads the Approval of Service Suppliers list with 262 companies, followed by Singapore and Norway, tied at 120 each, then the Republic of Korea (91), Brazil (90), the United Kingdom (78), the United States (77), Greece (74), Germany (73), Spain (72), the United Arab Emirates (68), India (61), the Netherlands (58), and Poland and Australia, tied at 46 each. The top three countries together account for a bit over a fifth of all companies on this list; the rest is spread fairly evenly across a long tail of countries, which points to breadth rather than a small number of service hubs.

China holds a clearer lead among manufacturers and workshops, with 654 companies - about a third of the 1954 companies on this list - well ahead of Germany (282), the Republic of Korea (230), Japan (133), Italy (121), India (73), Spain (53), Poland (35), Turkiye and France (30 each), the United Kingdom and Taiwan Region (28 each), the Czech Republic (22), the United States (20) and the Netherlands (19). This is a more concentrated picture than the service-supplier list: heavy-manufacturing approvals cluster more tightly in a handful of large industrial countries, while service and inspection approvals are held more evenly across a wider set of countries.

Validity and expiry

All 3281 service-supplier certificates and all 2333 manufacturer/workshop certificates in our register currently carry valid status; none show as expired or revoked in this pull. That is a snapshot, not a guarantee - it says only that these were the values on file when the register was compiled, not that every certificate will still be current when you actually need it.

Looking at nominal expiry years for service suppliers, 535 certificates run out in 2026, 1026 in 2027, 1139 in 2028, 580 in 2029, and a single certificate in 2030. Close to two-thirds of the entire list is therefore due to expire within the 2027-2028 window, which means a supplier that looks safely valid today may need to renew before your next contract or dry-docking date arrives.

The pattern among manufacturers and workshops is similar: 364 certificates expire in 2026, 742 in 2027, 877 in 2028 and 350 in 2029, with no 2030 dates recorded on this list. Well over two-thirds of these certificates also fall due in the 2027-2028 window. For a buyer, the practical lesson is the same on both lists: a status of valid tells you the certificate has not lapsed as of the register date, not that it will still be valid on the day the work is due, so the expiry year needs to be checked against the actual delivery or dry-docking schedule every time.

Where to find service and supply

Alongside the approval register, our own directory holds 371 firms whose profile text mentions the kind of work covered above - thickness measurement, non-destructive testing, liferaft servicing, fire-extinguisher service stations. China again tops the country list with 43 firms, ahead of the United States (33), the United Kingdom (26), Germany (24), the Netherlands (15), India (14), Poland (13) and Singapore (12).

A few examples from that directory illustrate the range of companies involved. OSM International, based in Miami, describes itself as an NDT-certified provider of on-site machining and metal-stitching repair - the kind of contractor a superintendent might call on for an in-situ fix that would otherwise mean a shipyard visit. HD Marine Corporation covers underwater inspection and remotely operated vehicle dive support, structural assessment, hull cleaning and ultrasonic thickness measurement, several of the same scopes that appear as formal approval categories above. Enseada Industria Naval S.A., a large shipbuilding and offshore yard in Brazil, covers platform and module construction alongside general newbuilding and repair work. Wehr O, listed under Germany, is a shipping company whose profile also references ship supply and marine equipment - a reminder that in a directory built from free-text company profiles, service, supply and operating roles sit side by side and are worth checking individually rather than assumed.

How to use this when specifying or buying

• Ask for the exact approval scope text, not just the word approved - steel castings and steel forgings, for example, cover different material families and are not interchangeable.
• Request a current copy of the certificate directly from the supplier or workshop before signing a contract, rather than relying on a directory listing or a claim on a website.
• Check the certificate's nominal expiry year against your delivery, repair or dry-docking schedule; with so many certificates in this register expiring in 2027 and 2028, a certificate valid today may not still be valid at project completion.
• Where the register lists the same scope more than once under slightly different wording, such as the several steel-forgings or steel-castings entries, confirm which exact variant applies to your material grade or wall thickness.
• Where one scope line combines two services, such as fire-extinguisher inspection combined with breathing-apparatus servicing, confirm the supplier is approved for both parts, not just the more visible one.
• Cross-check a candidate supplier or workshop against both the approval register and a general directory profile; a directory listing on its own, like the 371 firms above, is not the same as a formal approval.
• For underwater or remote-inspection work, note that diver-only in-water survey (409 companies) is a much larger pool than diver-plus-ROV survey (97) or ROV-only survey (37); confirm which method your contract or notation requires before booking.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an approved service supplier and an approved manufacturer or workshop?

In our register, the Approval of Service Suppliers list covers companies that inspect, test, maintain or service equipment already on board - lifeboats, fire-fighting gear, radios, liferafts and similar. The Manufacturers / Workshops list covers companies that make the material or the part in the first place - forgings, castings, pipes, plates - typically for new construction or major repair. A company can in principle hold approvals on both lists, but the two say different things about what the company actually does.

Does a high number of companies in one country mean the work is cheaper or better there?

Not on its own. Our register only records where a company is approved, not how it prices work or how well it performs it. China's large share of both lists - 262 companies among service suppliers and 654 among manufacturers and workshops - mainly reflects the size and location of shipbuilding and maintenance activity, not a quality signal one way or the other.

How current is a valid status in this register?

All 3281 service-supplier certificates and 2333 manufacturer/workshop certificates in our data are marked valid, but that reflects the register at the time it was compiled, in September 2026. With well over half of the certificates on each list carrying expiry years of 2027 or 2028, always request a current certificate from the supplier rather than relying on a valid status shown by any secondary source, including this one.

Are the 371 firms in the directory the same companies as the ones in the approval register?

Not necessarily. The 371 firms are companies in our own directory whose free-text profile mentions relevant keywords such as thickness measurement, non-destructive testing, liferaft servicing or fire-extinguisher service stations. Some may also hold formal approvals on the register above; others may not. The two lists should be checked separately before a supplier is selected for a specific job.