ABSTRACT
Safety should be ensured both during design and operation. For cargo ships a loading computer is required onboard to check that the still water wave bending does not exceed design limits. This is associated with uncertainties. Additional means should be used to check the loading computer. Conventionally this is done by draft survey which is also associated with uncertainties. In this paper laser measurements have been used to check the loading computer. Recordings from two container ships are presented and discussed. The main result is that the likelihood of exceeding the design still water bending moment is low. Hence, IACS design requirements for container ships has an additional safety factor which consequently may imply additional steel, fuel consumption and CO2 emission. Through transparent sharing of data like in this paper design rules may be further improved to balance risk and costs, and laser measurements may reduce the operational risk.
