Ocean Engineering 79 (2014) 8191

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Ocean Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/oceaneng

Stability, safety and operability of small shing vessels

Francisco Mata-lvarez-Santullano a,n, Antonio Souto-Iglesias b,1
a
Maritime Accident and Incident Investigation Standing Commission (CIAIM), Ministry for Development and Transport, Government of Spain, Paseo de la
Castellana 67, 28071 Madrid, Spain
b
Model Basin Research Group (CEHINAV), Naval Architecture Department (ETSIN) Technical University of Madrid (UPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 4 June 2013
Accepted 18 January 2014
Available online 7 February 2014

In this paper, the relationship between stability, safety and operability for small shing vessels is
investigated. To this aim, a relevant set of small shing vessels is selected. These have similar main
dimensions and capsized in stability related accidents between 2004 and 2007. The stability and
operability characteristics of such vessels are confronted with those of the vessels that had been
decommissioned in order to build them, operated by the same crews, in the same areas and using the
same shing gear types. Such vessels are considered as reference safe vessels since their operational
life came to an end without any hazards. With regard to stability, fullment of the intact stability
criteria in force when the vessels were designed and built is veried. Operability criteria are selected
and their fullment is analyzed for a range of sea states, headings and velocities using linear
seakeeping analysis. In light of this analysis, operability is discussed as a valid indicator of ship safety.
This step is considered relevant prior to analyzing these sets of vessels through second generation
stability criteria under development by the International Maritime Organization, a subject of
immediate future research.
& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Safety
Operability
Fishing vessel
Seakeeping
Intact stability
Ship motions

1. Introduction
Commercial shing is one of the most hazardous occupations
today, with fatality rates being widely documented in the specialized literature. In the US, they are around 130 fatalities per year
for every 100,000 shing sector workers, compared to 4 for the
rest of the sectors (Lincoln and Lucas, 2010); similar alarming
gures are reported in the UK (UK MAIB, 2010).
In Galicia, the region of Spain where the shing sector is most
prevalent, with more than one half of the shing eet and workers
of the whole country, shing accounts for a very high number of
fatal accidents during the working day, second only to the
construction sector which employs a much larger percentage of
the Spanish working force. It can be seen that most of the
casualties happen in vessel-related accidents (or maritime accidents) and among these, losses due to stability problems (capsizing or large heeling) account for half, mainly in vessels of length
below 24 m (Mguez Gonzlez et al., 2012). This analysis is
consistent with Jin et al. (2001) who demonstrated that capsizing
is the type of accident where crewmembers have the highest
probability of dying.

Corresponding author. Tel.: 34 915977159; fax: 34 915978596.

E-mail addresses: fmata@fomento.es (F. Mata-lvarez-Santullano),
antonio.souto@upm.es (A. Souto-Iglesias).
1
Tel.: 34 913367156; fax 34 915442149.
0029-8018/$ - see front matter & 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2014.01.011

Between November 2004 and September 2007, ve Spanishagged shing vessels capsized due to loss of stability resulting in
a large part of their crew dead. Examining the ve accidents side
by side, it is noticeable that the vessels had similar characteristics,
in particular that their lengths ranged between 15 and 24 m and
that they had all been built between 1999 and 2001 in accordance
with a recent tonnage distribution regulation (Mata-lvarezSantullano and Souto-Iglesias, 2013).
The shipowners, masters and crews of the capsized vessels
were the same that had been operating the vessels decommissioned in order to build the lost ones. The decommissioned vessels
are referred to hereinafter as predecessors. Moreover, it can be
reasonably argued that the uses of the capsized vessels were
analogous to the predecessors' since they operated in the same
area, using the same shing gear and in the same social framework. The predecessors had been in service for many years, while
the ve shing vessels which succeeded them sank, after a short
operational life, in stability related accidents. It may therefore be
interesting to try and study the differences, at various levels, of
these two sets of vessels.
All these lost vessels complied with the IMO (International
Maritime Organization) stability regulations, implemented in 1970
in the Spanish legislation. Despite this fact, the lack of stability
caused all accidents. Given the growing complexity and specialization of vessels and also given that the current stability criteria
could not properly cover part of the dynamic phenomena present
in several stability related accidents, the IMO has recognized that

82

F. Mata-lvarez-Santullano, A. Souto-Iglesias / Ocean Engineering 79 (2014) 8191

Nomenclature
B
D
DISF
GM

breadth [m]
depth to main deck [m]
displacement [t]
transversal metacentric height [m]

the current stability framework can be improved. It has therefore

established working groups to develop the so called Second
Generation Intact Stability Criteria (SGISC) (IMO, 2008). This
new regulation is still under development and has not yet been
approved by the IMO. Surely those works will constitute the basis
for future stability regulations, which sooner or later will apply to
shing vessels. The proposed new stability regulation under
discussion contemplates the use of CFD codes to assess the ship
vulnerability to some stability failure modes. Nevertheless, the
IMO working group undertaking this task, has not yet agreed on
the stability direct assessment methodologies, that is, the seakeeping calculations with CFD codes are put in question by some
delegations, mainly due to the lack of validation of the codes (IMO,
2013, 2012).
Mantari et al. (2011) looked at the links between stability and
safety by considering the actions of shing gear, wind and beam
waves from the perspective of intact stability. They compared the
inclining and righting arms for different operational conditions
and evaluated the balance of energy of these external forces. They
came to the conclusion that the inclining moments deriving from
the shing gear are, in many occasions, at least as important as the
heeling moments produced by rough weather scenarios.
The links between safety and seakeeping has been analyzed by
some authors under several approaches. Tello et al. (2011) proposed a methodology based on seakeeping calculations for the
analysis of shing vessels operability. They studied several vessels
of the Portuguese shing eet, proposing operability criteria with
their corresponding limiting values. They concluded that roll and
pitch criteria are the most often exceeded ones, and identied
some trends in hull shape that optimize the fulllment of those
criteria.
The idea that arises is that the relationship between safety and
operability needs to be studied.
The masters operate their ships when motions experienced
onboard are below certain levels and interrupt shing operations
only when those are surpassed and operation is not possible. They
are hence the rst to assume that a ship with a larger operability
range is a safer ship. This relation needs a rigorous assessment,
which we aim at conducting in this paper by analyzing the
aforementioned reference case studies, namely, by comparing
some stability and operability characteristics between the ve
vessels lost and their predecessors. It is worth noting that this
work does not intend to model specically the accidents suffered
by the lost vessels, neither to assess their stability in rough
weather. The aim of the paper is to investigate the relationship
between the regulatory stability and operability of these two
relevant sets of vessels as one necessary step in understanding
the limitations and prospects of the former.
The paper is organized as follows: methodology of the analysis is
rst presented by briey reviewing IMO regulations on stability and
by selecting operability criteria for a seakeeping analysis. Second,
the case studies are presented looking at their main dimensions,
weights, etc. Third, results for intact stability and operability based
on seakeeping analysis are presented and compared between the
families of new vessels and decommissioned ones. Finally a discussion is provided concerning the limitations of the IMO transversal

KG
LBP
LOA
T
RT
VA

center of gravity height over base line [m]

length between perpendiculars [m]
length overall [m]
mean draft [m]
register tonnage
vertical acceleration [m/s2]

stability criteria with respect to prevention of stability failure and

the suitability of operability based criteria to help in shing vessels
safety assessment.

2. Methodology
2.1. General
Five shing vessels that sank due to stability failure are studied.
The studied shing vessels are similar in size, relatively small (LOA
between 16 and 20 m), built between 1999 and 2001, and were
lost from comparable stability causes between 2004 and 2007.
Building any of these vessels meant that one or more existing
shing vessels had to be decommissioned refraining the tonnage
of the whole shing eet from increasing, according to the
European shing effort regulations in force. In the ve cases
studied more than one vessel had to be decommissioned, The
largest among the decommissioned vessels will be the selected
predecessor of the capsized shing vessel and will be considered
a reference safe vessel for comparisons. Normally, and what was
the case for the considered pairs of vessels, a shing vessel and her
predecessor share many characteristics such as master, crew,
shing zones, gear type, base port, etc., since the shipowner is
usually the same person.
For each lost shing vessel and her respective predecessor, a
characteristic loading condition is established. Each vessel has
been studied in one loading condition only, chosen from the
available information, normally being the full load condition. In
the case of vessels for which no stability booklets were available
(most predecessors) using the best available information a loading
condition close to the full load is estimated. Then, stability and
operability calculations for both vessels are performed.
2.2. Regulatory stability
2.2.1. General
The vessels stability is checked against the IMO stability criteria
for shing vessels proposed in the Code on intact stability for all
types of ships covered by IMO instruments, approved by the IMO
Assembly Resolution A.749(18).
Spain adopted these stability criteria in 1970 which were
therefore mandatory when the ve vessels studied were designed
and built. Since it was not mandatory when the ve predecessors
were built, the IMO Severe Wind and Rolling Criterion (weather
criterion) has not been considered in the present study. Regarding
the ve lost vessels, according to the Spanish stability regulations,
compliance with the weather criterion has to be checked only if
the area under the stability curve up to 301 is below 0.065 m rad in
the most unfavorable loading condition. All ve vessels concerned
had larger area stability curves and therefore the previously
mentioned weather criterion did not apply in any case.
Intact stability calculations have been performed with state of
the art naval architecture software, considering free trim. No free
surfaces in tanks have been considered. The center of gravity has
been considered to be at midship. For the cases where the stability

F. Mata-lvarez-Santullano, A. Souto-Iglesias / Ocean Engineering 79 (2014) 8191

booklet is available small differences have been found between the

calculated cross-curves and the ones in the booklet. These differences are mainly attributed to the hull modeling process when
introducing hull form data into the naval architecture software.

2.2.2. Stability index

The stability curves (GZ) give a quick and good idea of the
stability characteristics of a vessel and, in our case, noticeable
differences have been found between the stability curves of some
of the vessels. These differences may be quantied by comparing
each single stability criterion. For comparison purposes, a single
magnitude to better quantify the differences in regulatory stability
between each shing vessel and her predecessor is desirable and
an index related to the KG margin has been devised.
For each vessel, the largest KG for which all the stability criteria
are fullled is computed; this is the Limiting KG. Then, the stability
index (SI) used to compare each vessel is the ratio between the
Limiting KG and the actual KG of the loading condition studied.
This SI is presented in percentage terms, and gives an idea of the
reserve of stability of the vessel.

2.3. Seakeeping and operability

2.3.1. General
As mentioned in the introduction, the current stability criteria
might not properly cover part of the dynamic phenomena present
in several stability related accidents. We propose to explore the
link between operability and safety by analyzing the degree of
fulllment of several operability criteria through seakeeping
computations. With this aim, the seakeeping performance of the
ten vessels has been analyzed. A short-term seakeeping analysis
has also been carried out checking ship motions against a series of
criterion limiting the ship operability. Tello et al. (2011) proposed
seakeeping criteria to assess shing vessels operability. For the
operability analysis presented herein, and their criteria have been
used. These are enumerated in Table 1:
Motions response operators have been calculated using the
PRECAL linear seakeeping code. PRECAL computes ship motions in
the frequency domain using a 3D panel boundary element method
formulation (Chow and McTaggart, 1996; PRECAL version 6.6 User
Manual, 2010). A non-linear roll damping coefcient of 0.12 has
been considered for the roll motion, akin to the value chosen by
Tello et al. (2011), considering that the same types of vessels are
under analysis in our research. The x, y, z inertia radius ratios vs. B,
Lbp, Lbp have been estimated by the PRECAL code, and values
between 0.32 and 0.38 are taken for roll, 0.25 for pitch, and
between 0.27 and 0.29 for yaw. These latter values are similar to
the ones used by Tello et al. (2011) (0.4, 0.25 and 0.25
respectively).
Green water on deck and propeller emergence probabilities
have been computed according to the formulation given by Lloyd
Table 1
Operability criteria.
Prescribed
maximum value

C1
C2
C3
C4

61 (rms)
31 (rms)
0.1 g (rms)
0.2 g (rms)

Roll
Pitch
Lateral acceleration (at the previous three points)
Vertical acceleration (at bridge, working deck fore
and working deck aft)
C5 Propeller emergence
C6 Green water on deck (at working deck fore and
working deck aft)

(1989), on the basis of the relative motions between the vessel and
the sea surface given by the seakeeping code.
For the green water on deck criterion, the probability has been
calculated at two points for each vessel (deck level fore and aft)
and the largest value has been chosen. Vertical and lateral
accelerations have been computed at three points for each vessel
(working deck fore and aft, and the bridge). The largest value
amongst the three is chosen to check the criterion fulllment.
Calculations have been performed for headings from 01 to 1801
(head seas) in steps of 301 and vessel speeds from 0 to 10 knots in
steps of 2 knots.
Although, strictly speaking, the proposed criteria limit operability and not safety it is assumed that, for comparative purposes,
these operability values may be valid indicators of the vessels
safety. It will later be seen, by comparing capsized vessels with
their predecessors, that this could in general not be the case.
However, it is necessary to be aware of the several limitations of
the method used, since a linear seakeeping approach cannot
capture some dynamic phenomena in waves e.g., broaching-to
or parametric rolling, and the amplitude of the ship motions in
large amplitude waves can be questioned. These limitations must
be taken into account when considering the relationship between
the calculated operability and ship safety.
2.3.2. Sea state
The operability study has been performed in two sea states
dened by the signicant wave height and modal wave period
according to the standardized scale adopted by NATO (Military
Agency for Standarization, NATO, 1983). For all vessels, SSN4 and
SSN5 have been studied, corresponding to signicant wave heights
of 1.88 m and 3.25 m with modal periods of 8.8 s and 9.7 s
respectively.
A Bretschneider sea spectrum has been used. Three of the ve
studied vessels were lost in the Atlantic Ocean, close to the
Spanish north coast; one sank in the Gulf of Cadiz, close to the
Gibraltar strait, while the fth was lost in the Mediterranean Sea.
Those sea states chosen have been found to represent the conditions of those areas, where the eet of small coastal shing vessels
operates most of the time. With the RAOs obtained with PRECAL
and the previously mentioned spectra, the motion spectra have
been computed and used to obtain the rms values necessary to
assess the fulllment of the operability criteria presented in
Table 1.
2.3.3. Operability index
For comparative purposes, an operability index (OI) has been
dened and is calculated as the percentage of combinations
speedheading at which the operating vessel complies with all
operability criteria. The OI can be rigorously established using an
auxiliary function Z which depends on speed and heading and is
dened as a Boolean function, taking value 1 when at least one
criterion is not met and 0 for the safe zone:
Z Z 10
OI 1 
z; vdv d=10
1
0

Criterion

15% (probability)
5% (probability)

83

An OI equal to zero means that at least one operability criterion is

surpassed for every combination of ship speed and heading. An OI
equal to 1 means the vessel would operate safely at any speed and
heading, meeting all operability criteria.
Operability indexes have been obtained for the ve pairs of
studied ships and their predecessors for speeds from 0 to 10 knots
in 2 knot steps and headings from 01 (following seas) to 1801 (head
seas) in 301 steps. The values of the operability indexes have been
interpolated for those points lying inside the intervals dened.
This approach is necessary to obtain accurate operability graphs

84

F. Mata-lvarez-Santullano, A. Souto-Iglesias / Ocean Engineering 79 (2014) 8191

and hence meaningful OIs. The loading conditions studied are the
same as in the stability study.

3. Fishing vessels studied

As mentioned in the introduction, between November 2004
and September 2007 ve Spanish-agged ships capsized due to
transversal stability related causes. Main dimensions and other
characteristics of those vessels are presented in Table 2. In this
paper, they are labeled as F1F5. According to the European
common sheries policy, in order to build one shing vessel, one
or more vessels had to be decommissioned accounting for the
same gross tonnage and power as the ship to be built. The vessels
that were retired from service to build F1F5 are referred to as
predecessors. Table 3 summarizes the main characteristics of the
predecessors, labeled as P1P5.
The ships in these tables are referred to using the European
Fishing Fleet Register (EFFR) code (http://ec.europa.eu/sheries/
eet/index.cfm?lg=en).
The case studies LOAs range between 16 and 20 m. They are
classied in three categories according to their shing gear: seines,
hook and lines, and gillnets and entangling nets. Predecessors
belong to the same categories and are slightly smaller in their
main dimensions (e.g. LOA 11.316 m compared to 1620 m).
The body plans of the ten vessels are shown (not to scale) in
Table 4.
Main characteristics of both sets of vessels and loading conditions studied are included in Table 5.

4. Results
4.1. Regulatory stability
The stability curves of the vessels studied are presented in
Fig. 1. Comparison of stability curves of vessels (F1F5) and their
predecessors (P1P5) have been plotted jointly.
Regarding the stability curves calculated for each vessel, all
predecessors had, in general, a larger GZ and, thus, better dynamic
stability than the lost vessels. The capsized shing vessels had also
a lower GM than their respective predecessors.

The stability index computed for all vessels is presented in

Table 6. As mentioned, the stability index (SI) for comparison is the
limiting KG margin (in percentage terms) over loading condition
KG. The values of the stability index for the lost vessels (SIlv) and
for the predecessors (Sip), as well as the ratio between the two
magnitudes are included. It is remarkable that most predecessors
show larger stability indexes than the vessels substituting them.
For the pairs F1P1, F3P3 and F5P5 the differences are quite
noticeable. It is also remarkable that vessels F1 and F5, although
complying with the criteria, had very little stability margin. The
reason, for the F5 case, is the short range of positive stability,
which causes the heel angle corresponding to maximum GZ to be
quite close to 251. This is due to a large part of F5 superstructure
not being considered watertight by the designer and not contributing to the intact stability. Therefore, the F5 stability curve
stops growing when the deck edge gets submerged. It must be
highlighted that the marginal compliance with the angle at which
the maximum GZ occurs may lead to a rapid capsize in case a
strong wind gust is applied to the vessel.
In any case, all the case studies and predecessors fullled all
applicable IMO stability criteria. Considering that similar operational factors applied for capsized vessels and predecessors, a
question mark on the suitability of intact stability criteria for these
sets of vessels can be placed. The idea of looking at operability
criteria in order to investigate the vessels safety thus arises
naturally.
4.2. Operability
In this section, the results of the operability calculations are
presented. Figs. 26 present a graphical representation of operability with areas where each criterion is exceeded for each vessel,
predecessor and sea state. Safe zones where no threshold is
exceeded are also shown. Global operability graphics in SSN4
and SSN5 considering simultaneously roll, pitch, lateral acceleration and vertical acceleration (excluding green water on deck and
propeller emergence) are presented in Figs. 7 and 8. The operability indexes (OI) (Eq. (1)) calculated for all studied vessels are
presented in Table 7.
Table 7 summarizes the calculated operability index (OI) for all
vessels, considering ship motions only, excluding green water and
propeller emergence.

Table 2
Fishing vessels lost.
Label Boat code in European Gear type
eet

Length overall
(m)

Tonnage
(GT)

Year of
build

Year of
loss

Possible accident causes (from the ofcial investigation

reports)

F1
F2
F3
F4

ESP25057
ESP24593
ESP24391
ESP24358

Seines
Hook and linesa
Seines
Gillnets and
entangling nets

17.00
16.02
18.00
20.00

34.18
29.97
44.83
87.03

2001
2000
1999
1999

2004
2004
2004
2006

Lack of stability; probably surf-riding and broaching

Lack of stability, probably overloading
Lack of stability, probably surf-riding and broaching
Lack of stability, probably dead ship condition and shing
spaces ooded

F5

ESP24199

Seines

19.40

59.01

1999

2007

Lack of stability, probably inadequate weight distribution

When capsized the ship was operating as a pot vessel.

Table 3
Fishing vessels predecessors to the lost ones.
Label

Boat code in European eet

Gear type

Length overall (m)

Tonnage (GT)

Year of build

Year of retirement

Notes

P1
P2
P3
P4
P5

ESP16060
ESP11830
ESP05969
ESP00251
ESP05154

Seines
Hook and lines
Seines
Gillnets and entangling nets
Seines

15
11.3
14.1
16
15.75

17.11
5.86
28.7
47
29

1989
1963
1978
1983
1959

2001
2000
1999
1999
1999

Predecessor
Predecessor
Predecessor
Predecessor
Predecessor

to
to
to
to
to

ESP25057
ESP24593
ESP24391
ESP24358
ESP24199

F. Mata-lvarez-Santullano, A. Souto-Iglesias / Ocean Engineering 79 (2014) 8191

4.2.1. Results analysis

Regarding the operability graphs and OI's calculated in the
previous section, some conclusions can be drawn:
(1) Most of the lost vessels had greater operability than their
predecessors. This difference is most noticeable in SSN4,
where signicant differences are found for F1, F2 and F4 with
respect to P1, P2 and P4.

Table 4
Case studies and predecessors' body plans.
Fishing vessels (F1F5)

Predecessors (P1P5)

F1P1

85

(2) For all vessels, operability deteriorates with increasing sea

states. In SSN4 all lost vessels (F1F5) maintain high levels of
operability, with the OI ranging between 0.81 and 0.96. The
lost vessels operability deteriorates signicantly in SSN5,
except for F4 and F5 that still have OI of 0.62 and 0.59
respectively. These two vessels being the largest ones amongst
the ten studied, them having a larger operability is expected.
(3) Regarding the predecessors, more heterogeneity is found.
Apart from P2, the OI of the other four vessels varies from
0.47 to 0.90. Regardless of the wave height being considered,
excessive pitch responses above the limiting criterion have
been found for the P2 case, which signicantly reduces the
global operability of the vessel. This might be attributable to
this vessel being the smallest one, with 11 m LOA, well below
the rest of the studied vessels. Therefore, operability results for
P2 must be cautiously taken.

When examining the operability results in Figs. 25, which

present criteria separately, some points arise.
(1) In general, predecessors present lower operability than the
lost vessels regarding the pitch motion criteria.
(2) Green water on deck and propeller emergence are quite
sensitive to the sea state. Most vessels fulll these criteria in
any combination of heading and speed in SSN4 (Hs 1.88 m)
but fail to comply with them in SSN5 (Hs 3.25 m) for most
heading/speed combinations. Therefore, the operability of all
vessels regarding this criterion drastically deteriorates with
relatively small increases in wave height. For this reason, green
water and propeller emergence are not useful criteria for
comparative purposes between the two sets of vessels studied,
since in all cases, the drastic operability deterioration occurs in
a relatively small wave height interval.
(3) The most often exceeded criteria are pitch, roll, and lateral
acceleration.
(4) Pitch becomes a problem for ship headings close to 1801 (head
seas) and high speeds. When increasing wave height, the pitch
in the following waves (01) also limits operability.
(5) In general, vessels P1P5 do not present larger roll motions
than vessels F1F5. Roll is not a very limiting criterion in SSN4,
except for vessel P2. Regardless of the speed of the vessel
being considered and for headings around 901 (beam waves),
roll criterion is a major limiting factor of operability of most of
the vessels in SSN5. Notice this feature might pose a problem
for vessels that operate at zero speed without manoeuvring
capability, especially, purse seiners while pulling the net and
pulling catches onboard. A common scenario for those vessels,
while pulling the net in bad weather, is to be pushed by wind
and waves, ending transverse to the waves and suffering rolls
that can put the vessel in danger (Mantari et al., 2011).

F2P2

F3P3

F4P4

F5P5

Table 5
Main dimensions of the lost vessels (F1F5) and their predecessors (P1P5).

F1
P1
F2
P2
F3
P3
F4
P4
F5
P5

Lbp (m)

B (m)

D (m)

T (m)

DISF (t)

Freeboard (m)

KG (m)

RT

Nat. roll period (s)

GM (m)

13.5
12.6
13.8
9.5
13.5
12.5
16.2
14.46
15.5
14

5
4.08
4.57
4.38
5.2
5.12
5.3
4.7
5.75
5

2.35
1.54
2.15
1.57
2.35
1.7
2.3
1.902
2.5
2.068

2.127
1.05
1.8
1.17
1.775
1.264
2
1.302
1.73
1.616

71.21
25
53.23
21.65
80.67
43.6
97.82
49.2
90.8
68.14

0.223
0.49
0.658
0.4
0.336
0.436
0.3
0.6
0.759
0.455

2.191
1.185
1.8
1.334
2.21
1.56
2.238
1.98
2.17
1.104

30.15
13.37
26.03
10.1
23.69
26.4
34.46
20
32.45
32.45

5.2
3.3
4.4
3.5
4.8
3.3
4.3
3.3
4.8
3.4

0.579
0.842
0.68
0.93
0.76
1.38
0.62
1.1
0.96
1.2

86

F. Mata-lvarez-Santullano, A. Souto-Iglesias / Ocean Engineering 79 (2014) 8191

Table 6
Stability index (SI) of the lost vessels (F1F5) and their predecessors (P1P5).

Vessels
F1-P1

Lost vessel

SIF (%)

Predecessor

SIP (%)

Ratio SIP/SIF

F1
F2
F3
F4
F5

2.7
9.9
6.7
10.1
2.0

P1
P2
P3
P4
P5

11.0
19.7
51.0
8.0
37.0

4.6
2.0
7.6
0.8
18.5

When looking at operability and taking into account all criteria

simultaneously (Figs. 6 and 7), the following conclusions can be
drawn:

Vessels
F2-P2

(1) In general, operability of all vessels is more signicantly

impaired when facing bow waves (901801) for both sea states
SSN4 and SSN5.
(2) In SSN5 vessels operability region gets conned to quartering
seas (headings from 301 to 901).
Comparing the operability with the stability characteristics of
the ten vessels studied in Section 4, some conclusions are reached.

Vessels
F3-P3

Vessels
F4-P4

(1) The lost vessels have, in general, larger operability but less
stability than their predecessors.
(2) When comparing stability and operability between a lost
vessel and her predecessor, large differences in operability
do not always imply large differences in stability. For instance,
F4 and P4 have stability indexes quite similar (see Table 6) but
the operability differences between F4 and P4 are quite
signicant (see Figs. 5, 7 and 8). This suggests that there is
no direct and obvious correlation between stability and
operability.
Summarizing the previous results, it can be stated that operability studies based on linear seakeeping calculations may not be
enough to assess ship safety. A consistent relation between ship
stability and ship operability, calculated from linear seakeeping
methods, has not been found. Due to the particular nature of the
case studies (all vessels capsized in stability related accidents) the
conclusion can be drawn that a direct link between operability and
safety in the ve case studies and by extension for these types of
vessels cannot be established.
4.3. Additional remarks

Vessels
F5-P5

Fig. 1. Comparison of stability curves of vessels (F1F5) and their predecessors

(P1P5).

(6) Regarding vessel accelerations, some conclusions can also be

drawn. Degradation of operability due to the lateral acceleration criterion being exceeded with increasing wave heights is
signicant for most vessels, while vertical acceleration criterion being exceeded is less dependent on sea state. Therefore,
in general, lateral accelerations limit operability more than
vertical ones. Lateral acceleration responses are signicant for
vessel headings around 901, which is a foreseable result, being
strongly correlated with the roll motion.

Some additional issues, which do not directly affect the main

conclusions, are worth presenting:
(1) The stability curves for vessels F1 and F3, presented in Fig. 1,
have a peculiar behavior. These curves grow regularly between
0 and 10201, then, the curves remain almost horizontal up
to 30401, and nally the growing ratio increases again.
The reason is that the main deck is submerged because of
a reduced freeboard, and then the stability increases again
when the watertight superstructures are submerged as heel
increases.
(2) According to the operability results, in SSN5, for most speeds
studied, ships tend to be more operative in headings of 30601
(following waves). It is interesting to realize that navigating
with these headings may impose additional risks since the
dynamics of vessels in stern seas is not contemplated in the
operability studies. It is well documented (IMO, 2007) that for
those headings and speeds, shing vessels may be at risk of
surf-riding and broaching. In addition, with respect to Table 3,

F. Mata-lvarez-Santullano, A. Souto-Iglesias / Ocean Engineering 79 (2014) 8191

SSN4

SSN5

F1

P1

Fig. 2. Operability of vessels F1 and P1, in SSN4 and SSN5 (see Table 1 for criteria denition).

SSN4

SSN5

F2

P2

Fig. 3. Operability of vessels F2 and P2, in SSN4 and SSN5 (see Table 1 for criteria denition).

87

88

F. Mata-lvarez-Santullano, A. Souto-Iglesias / Ocean Engineering 79 (2014) 8191

SSN4

SSN5

P3

Fig. 4. Operability of vessels F3 and P3, in SSN4 and SSN5 (see Table 1 for criteria denition).

SSN4

SSN5

F4

P4

Fig. 5. Operability of vessels F4 and P4, in SSN4 and SSN5 (see Table 1 for criteria denition).

F. Mata-lvarez-Santullano, A. Souto-Iglesias / Ocean Engineering 79 (2014) 8191

SSN4

89

SSN5

F5

P5

Fig. 6. Operability of vessels F5 and P5, in SSN4 and SSN5 (see Table 1 for criteria denition).

F1 - P1

F2 - P2

F3 - P3

F4 - P4

F5 - P5

Vessel

Predec.

Fig. 7. Operability comparison of vessels F1F5 and P1P5, in SSN4, considering roll, pitch, lateral acceleration and vertical acceleration.

it is stated that some of the vessels studied which sank could

have experimented surf-riding and broaching.
(3) According to the authors' professional experience, it is not
uncommon that shing vessel masters identify stability with a

low level of motions on board. A vessel with high operability

may generate false safety perceptions on the crew, and the
master in particular. Small amplitude ship motions and
reduced pitch/roll/accelerations may be perceived by the

90

F. Mata-lvarez-Santullano, A. Souto-Iglesias / Ocean Engineering 79 (2014) 8191

F1 - P1

F2 - P2

F3 - P3

F4 - P4

F5 - P5

Vessel

Predec.

Fig. 8. Operability comparison of vessels F1F5 and P1P5, in SSN5, considering roll, pitch, lateral acceleration and vertical acceleration.

Table 7
Operability indexes of the lost vessels (F1F5) and their predecessors (P1P5).
F1P1

F2P2

F3P3

F4P4

F5P5

OI SSN4
Lost vessels
Predecessors
Ratio OIP/OIF

0.94
0.47
0.50

0.81
0.00
0.00

0.86
0.90
1.05

0.92
0.52
0.57

0.91
0.83
0.91

OI SSN5
Lost vessels
Predecessors
Ratio OIP/OIF

0.17
0.08
0.47

0.15
0.00
0.00

0.30
0.31
1.03

0.62
0.08
0.13

0.59
0.32
0.54

masters as a symptom of good stability, while according to the

ndings of this paper it is not necessarily true; that is to say,
there is no strong relation between stability and operability.
This suggests that shing vessel safety cannot be assessed
neglecting the human element, only by the study of ship
motions or ship stability. This reinforces the idea that more
investigation about ship motions on a seaway is needed. The
relationship between ship stability, safety and motions must
be investigated. These conclusions also suggest that an adequate training in stability for shing vessels masters is needed.

5. Conclusions
In the present paper, the intact stability and short term
operability of ten small shing vessels have been studied. Five
vessels built in the same time frame, which sank due to stability
related causes in a short period of time, and the ve respective
vessels which were decommissioned to build those (referred to as
predecessors) have been compared. These predecessor vessels,
which ended their service life in a regular way, are considered as a
safety reference. It is relevant to stress that the shipowners,
masters and crews of the capsized vessels were the same ones
that had been operating the predecessors, in the same shing

areas, using the same shing gear type, and in the same social
framework.
The intact stability of each vessel has been characterized by her
stability curve in a characteristic loading condition, and by a
stability index, dened from the limiting KG that allows the ship
to fulll the IMO intact stability criteria. The Weather Criterion has
not been considered since it was not applicable to the selected
vessels when these were designed and built.
The stability of each lost shing vessel has been compared with
the stability of her predecessor. It has been found that the new
vessels had in general larger stability than the predecessors.
Notwithstanding that, the ten vessels fullled the IMO stability
criteria and hence, from the stability point of view, they can be
considered equally safe.
Considering that the capsized vessels and their predecessors
were operated in similar contexts, this stability analysis opens a
question mark on the suitability of intact stability criteria for these
cases and therefore the possibility of analyzing the vessels operability in order to characterize the vessels safety has been
explored. The masters operate the ships responding to the fulllment of operability criteria and interrupt shing operations only
when those are surpassed and operation is no longer possible.
They are hence the rst to assume that a ship with a larger
operability range is a safer ship.
Operability of each vessel is established by calculating her
short-term motions in two typical sea states with linear seakeeping analysis, and checking these motions against a set of operability criteria. A global operability index has been dened
for comparison purpose. The operability of each pair of
vessels (sunken vessel and predecessor) has been compared,
resulting in the capsized vessels having more operability than
the predecessors.
As a main conclusion, the comparison between the stability
characteristics of two sets of vessels and the comparison between
the operability characteristics of the same two sets of vessels
throw opposite results. While the predecessors had in general
more stability, the lost ones had in general larger operability. Thus

F. Mata-lvarez-Santullano, A. Souto-Iglesias / Ocean Engineering 79 (2014) 8191

the masters of the new shing vessels could have considered them
to be safer as they experienced, in general, lower motions and
accelerations, while in fact the new vessels were less stable than
their predecessors, and might have required a more careful
operation.
Overall, these results indicate that usual operability criteria
may not contribute much to assess ship safety during design
phases. It also suggests that masters should be strongly trained in
stability, making them able to adequately manage their vessel's
stability regardless of the operability behavior.
As a nal remark, taking again into account that the sunken
vessels fullled IMO stability criteria and had larger operability
than the predecessors, we believe that more effort is needed
towards developing and validating new and more complex stability criteria, able to capture the reality of the dynamics of shing
vessels at sea.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Hugo Gee, Jos L. Cercos-Pita and Clara
Mata for assisting in the preparation of the manuscript. The authors
are also grateful to one anonymous reviewer for her/his detailed
analysis of the manuscript and subsequent recommendations.
References
Chow, D.L., McTaggart, K.A., 1996. Validation of SHIPMO7 and PRECAL with a
Warship Model (Technical Memo). Defense Research Establishment Atlantic
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada.
IMO, 2007. Circular MSC.1/Circ.1228. Revised Guidance to the Master for Avoiding
Dangerous Situations in Adverse Weather and Sea Conditions.

91

IMO, 2008. Report to the Maritime Safety Committee (SLF 51 Meetings Period No.
SLF 51/17), Stability, Load Lines and Fishing Vessels Sub-committee. International Maritime Organization, London.
IMO, 2012. Development of second generation intact stability criteria. International
Maritime Organization, London (Report of the Correspondence Group on Intact
Stability (Part I) (No. SLF 55/3/1), Stability, Load Lines and Fishing Vessels SubCommittee).
IMO, 2013. Comments on Present Status of Development of Second Generation
Intact Stability Criteria (No. SLF 55/3/7), Stability, Load Lines and Fishing Vessels
Sub-CommitteeInternational Maritime Organization, London.
Jin, D., Kite-Powell, H., Talley, W., 2001. The safety of commercial shing:
determinants of vessel total losses and injuries. J. Saf. Res. 32, 209228.
Lincoln, J., Lucas, D., 2010. Commercial shing deathsUnited States, 20002009. J.
Am. Med. Assoc. 304, 14371439.
Lloyd, A.R.J.M., 1989. Seakeeping: Ship Behavior in Rough Weather. Ellis Horwood
Limited, Market Cross House, Cooper Street, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1EB,
England.
Mantari, J.L., Ribeiro e Silva, S., Guedes Soares, C., 2011. Intact stability of shing
vessels under combined action of shing gear, beam waves and wind. Ocean
Eng. 38, 19891999.
Mata-lvarez-Santullano, F., Souto-Iglesias, A., 2013. Fishing effort control policies
and ship stability: analysis of a string of accidents in Spain in the period 2004
2007. Mar. Policy 40, 1017.
Mguez Gonzlez, M., Caamao Sobrino, P., Tedn lvarez, R., Daz Cass, V.,
Martnez Lpez, A., Lpez Pea, F., 2012. Fishing vessel stability assessment
system. Ocean Eng. 41, 6778.
Military Agency for Standarization, NATO, , 1983. Standardized Wave and Wind
Environments and Shipboard Reporting of Sea Conditions (STANAG No. 4194).
PRECAL version 6.6 User Manual, 2010.
Tello, M., Ribeiro e Silva, S., Guedes Soares, C., 2011. Seakeeping performance of
shing vessels in irregular waves. Ocean Eng. 38, 763773.
UK MAIB, 2010. MAIB Annual Report 2010. Maritime Accident Investigation Branch,
Government of UK.