Differentiating Between Load Density and Stack Weight

A Maritime Page news article deals with an interesting topic title ‘The Difference Between Load Density and Stack Weight’.

The structure of a ship is subject to strain 

The structure of a ship is subject to strain during loading and bad weather conditions. The strain or load likely to be encountered by the ship’s structure constitutes perhaps one of the most formidable problems faced by ship officers during cargo operations.

The two main types of cargo loads that are considered when loading a ship are load density and stack weight. Both of these are important to consider when planning to load cargo on a ship because they both can cause a ship’s structures to buckle.

However, it is important to note that the two are not the same although both are caused by excessive load acting on the ship deck plating.

The increasing size of ships

The increasing size of ships, together with more powerful engines that create the potential for the generation of larger dynamic forces on ships should therefore serve as a reminder to the shipping industry that “Bigger ships create bigger problems”.

For example on a typical 2020, Algeciras class container ship. which has a capacity of just under 24,000 TEU, with a length of 400m and a beam of 61m, water flowing over the deck, known as ‘green water loading’, could cause high impulsive loading on container stacks and potentially trigger a collapse.¹

Recent incidents in the industry that were the results of the failure of ship structures are typical examples of how super-sized ships can create super-sized problems.

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Source: Maritime Page

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