Bongo, Aristotle Rouan B.

SEAM 9:30 – 11:30AM MWF 03/04/19

IMO Intact Stability Criteria

My reflection on the researched topic that was given to us is that one of the most
important features of ships is its stability particularly on small ships which tends to suffer
from insufficient stability which could lead to dangerous situation that can harm the crew and
capsize the vessel. Nonetheless, a ship is essentially designed with an adequate stability
wherein it can maintain possible condition that may happen during operations or voyage.
The Intact Stability Criteria is to control the stability of the vessel in which it has an
unfavorable condition and because of that condition Intact Stability Criteria on vessels
should definitely be known to the officer planning the cargo. The intact stability criteria of the
code apply to ‘ships and other marine vehicles of 24m in length and above’ (IMO, 1995).

There are types of intact stability criteria which we can partitioned into six; the GM or
initial stability criteria wherein it is a measurement of the initial static stability of a floating
body, Wind heel criteria in which it is based on the principle of heeling moment created by a
pressure on the lateral condition of a ship combined with a drag force on the underwater hull,
GZ or quasi dynamic stability criteria, Energy balance criteria is based on restoring energy
wherein the area must be equal to or greater than the capsizing energy, Wave adjusted
stability, and Dynamic motion stability. Learning and understanding the IMO intact stability
criteria is a must when you want to be an aspiring officer because this criteria helps us
analyze data of the vessels that behaved well, and especially the data of vessels that did not
survive adverse conditions. Therefore, it is important to understand that the existing stability
regulations are codes of practice that give us a reasonable safety margins without giving an
assurance to the vessel which meets the requirements can survive all challenges along the
voyage.