Knowledge based software for loading and stability of ships

Abstract

Loading and Stability calculations of ships became a more and more complicated and time consuming process as the ship sizes and design complexity increased. Accurate and efficient methods of evaluating and analysing stability of ships for a given loading condition became very important as the safety become equally comparable with efficiency of operation. These requirements lead to introduction of dedicated computer systems onboard ships for loading and stability monitoring in the past. At present Ports-State Control requires details of loading and stability of the ship as it arrives to a particular port. With the development of the personal computer and windows environment, it is now possible to demonstrate actual loading and stability not only on onboard computer, but also at the shore based offices of the shipping agencies that do cargo planning. Any loading condition can be studied together with required stability prior to actual loading taking place. Alterations of loading can he suggested to optimize any loading condition. Although there are specialized producers of such software to the global shipping industries, this paper presents development of such software for a local ship owner.