ABSTRACT
Optimization mechanism was developed that aimed at designing a ferry that would combine low total cost of ownership with high level of passenger safety. The layouts of truck lanes on car deck and various passenger spaces on upper decks were automatically modified to reduce the building and fuel costs, ensure efficient evacuation while controlling stability performance. Genetic algorithm was utilised and various lessons from previous publications were used to obtain a group of designs for final investigation by the designers. The method will be also able to integrate some comfort features into the optimization algorithm.
