The new probabilistic damaged stability regulations for dry cargo and passenger ships (SOLAS 2009), which entered into force on January 1, 2009, represent a major step forward in achieving an improved safety standard through the rationalisation and harmonization of damaged stability requirements. There are, however, serious concerns regarding the adopted formulation for the calculation of the survival probability of passenger ships, particularly for ROPAX and large cruise vessels. The present paper outlines the objectives, the methodology of work and main results of the EU-funded FP7 project GOALDS (Goal Based Damaged Stability, 2009-2012), which aims to address the above shortcomings by state-of-the-art scientific methods and by formulating a rational, goal-based regulatory framework, properly accounting for the damage stability properties of passenger ships and the risk of people onboard.
Keywords: Damaged ship stability; Goal-based design; Passenger ship safety; Probabilistic assessment; Risk-based design.
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