Force Equilibrium-Based Safety Assessment System for Cargo Securing of Car Ferries

Capsize and sinking of a coastal car ferry has occurred in a Korean offshore area and has caused hundreds of human casualties. The rapid turn and improper cargo loading are inferred as the main reasons of the accident. It has motivated to develop a new system of cargo securing with improved safety of Korean coastal ferries. This paper provides a new approach regarding cargo securing safety assessment which is purely based on force equilibrium conditions, because IMO CSS is suitable for the ocean-going vessels. The mathematical formulations are presented for the new approach. This paper also introduces a newly developed safety assessment system based on the new approach. Most outstanding features are that it can utilize acceleration data produced from hydrodynamic motion analyses or assumed maximum extents of ship motion components and that securing safety assessment is simultaneously possible for unlimited number of cargoes with finite number of lashings.