Ship operational and safety aspects of ballast water exchange at sea

Abstract

A dry bulk carrier, a tanker, and a containership-taken as typical of ships trading to U S. ports-are analyzed for possible hazards caused by emptying and refilling ballast tanks at sea. Using hydrostatic data furnished by the shipowners, hull bending moments and stabilities are investigated to find the tank-emptying operations that produce the greatest changes in those parameters. As should be expected, bending moment changes do not exceed allowable stillwater values. Changes in GM are insignificant. The worst hydrostatic cases serve as a guide to conditions that should be analyzed in rough water. The University of Michigan SHIPMO program shows that in waves of 10-ft significant height wave-induced bending moments and shears are far below the design values published by the American Bureau of Shipping. On the other hand, in waves of 20-ft significant height, the maximum wave heights that occur occasionally can cause moments or shears that exceed design values. For the 20-ft case, both linear and nonlinear versions of SHIPMO are used.