The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), a classification society, has bestowed an approval in principle (AiP) to Finland’s marine engineering player Deltamarin and China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) for a new versatile floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) hull design.

The AiP certificate, which was awarded on December 3, 2025, at Marintec China in Shanghai, is said to confirm the feasibility of “a robust, fatigue-friendly hull” optimized for multiple field locations, including deepwater operations west of Africa.