DNV is a Norwegian assurance and risk management group headquartered at Veritasveien 1 in Høvik, a suburb of Oslo, where the operating company DNV AS is registered under number 945 748 931. It began in 1864 as Det Norske Veritas, set up to carry out technical inspection and evaluation of Norwegian merchant vessels. The company is privately held, with DNV Holding AS as its parent, and is led by group president and chief executive Remi Eriksen, who took the role on 1 August 2015. Jon Fredrik Baksaas chairs the board.
The group reports in Norwegian kroner. Revenue was NOK 35,291 million in 2025 with approximately 15,380 employees, and the annual report records a 65% cut in carbon emissions per employee against a 2019 baseline, ahead of a 2025 target of 50%. DNV states that it operates in more than 100 countries from roughly 350 offices.
From two class societies to one group
Germanischer Lloyd was founded in Hamburg in 1867 by a group of 600 shipowners, shipbuilders and insurers. The two societies announced their merger on 20 December 2012; after approvals from competition authorities in South Korea, the United States, the European Union and China, the merger contract was signed on 12 September 2013 and the combined business traded as DNV GL. The DNV name returned in 2021. The company marked its 150th anniversary in 2014.
Classification, rules and regulatory work
As a classification society DNV writes the class rules and standards used for ships and offshore structures, and it is authorised by 130 maritime administrations to carry out verification on their behalf. Its classed fleet covers 13,175 vessels and mobile offshore units, equivalent to 265.4 million gross tonnes, which the group puts at a 21% share of the world market. It also states that 65% of the world's offshore pipelines were designed and installed to DNV technical standards. Published rules are updated continuously: a July 2026 edition covers class rules and standards, and the group maintains guidance on subsea and offshore engineering, pipelines, carbon capture and transport, battery storage, electric vehicle charging and hydrogen.
Regulatory tracking is part of the maritime service. Current topics on its maritime pages include the IMO Net-Zero Framework, the EU Emissions Trading System, the Carbon Intensity Indicator, EU and UK monitoring, reporting and verification, FuelEU Maritime, inventory of hazardous materials and ship recycling, wind-assisted propulsion systems, a new SOLAS regulation for lifting appliances, and cyber security guidance tied to the ISM code.
Energy systems and advisory work
Energy Systems is one of the group's business areas and employs more than 6,000 energy and digital specialists with offices in over 100 countries. Services are grouped as advisory, certification, monitoring and verification, and cover renewables, oil and gas, transmission and distribution, and end use. DNV acts as an accredited certifier of electricity transmission and distribution components. It publishes an annual Energy Transition Outlook, a forecast of the global and regional energy mix, supply and demand to 2060, and an annual industry survey that draws on more than 1,100 senior energy professionals, alongside report series on hydrogen, CCUS and critical-infrastructure resilience.
Six business areas and the assurance side
Beyond Maritime and Energy Systems, the group operates Business Assurance, Supply Chain and Product Assurance, Digital Solutions and an Accelerator unit that holds businesses being grown through acquisition and partnership. Business Assurance has issued management system certificates to more than 70,000 companies and is an accredited certifier in 80 countries, with schemes covering ISO 9001 quality management and ISO 14001 environmental management; ISO 9001:2026, the first revision since 2015, was published in September 2026. Digital Solutions supplies engineering and enterprise software for ships, pipelines, processing plants, offshore structures and electricity grids, including the ShipManager fleet management system and the Phast, Safeti and Maros process-safety tools, and the Veracity platform hosts industry data services. The group also sells cyber security work for critical assets and infrastructure.
Training courses and research facilities
DNV runs a public training catalogue alongside its advisory work. Courses scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026 include Phast advanced modelling in Bangkok from 28 to 30 September and online from Paris from 5 to 12 October, explosions and fires hazards training at the group's Spadeadam research and development facility in Cumbria on 29 and 30 September, Maros training in Jakarta on 29 and 30 September, Safeti training in Chennai from 5 to 10 October, a power system protection course in the same week, and a course on DNV-RP-C208, the recommended practice for determining structural capacity by non-linear finite element analysis, at Høvik from 6 to 8 October.
Activity during 2026
Much of the recent maritime news concerns Korean and Indian shipbuilding. DNV issued approvals in principle to HD Hyundai Heavy Industries for a 271,000 cubic metre LNG carrier design on 15 September 2026 and, with the Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry, for a 12,000 cubic metre LNG bunkering vessel aimed at cruise ships the following day. It signed memorandums of understanding with HD Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering on assurance frameworks for software-defined vessel technology in Bangkok on 14 September 2026, with Fr. Fassmer on autonomous and remotely operated naval vessels on 10 September, and with Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers on advanced shipbuilding on 8 September. A DNV-led study published on 8 September 2026 estimated that standardising turbine designs and stabilising project pipelines could cut the lifetime cost of electricity from North Sea offshore wind by up to 28% by 2050, and a separate analysis the previous day said the global LNG bunker vessel fleet may need to more than double by 2030.
Other 2026 items include due diligence for a national wealth fund investment in the UK battery materials company Nexeon, a memorandum of understanding with IPGotion in Poland covering energy storage in central and eastern Europe, and the acquisition of an Equinor digital solution for subsea wellhead fatigue management.