Load Lines

A  marking  indicating  the extent to  which the  weight  of a  load  may safely  submerge  a ship;  also called Plimsoll line
.

The load line, or Plimsoll mark, is positioned amidships on both sides of a vessel. Its purpose is to indicate the legal li
mit towhich a ship may be loaded for specific ocean areas and seasons of the year. The basic Load Line Certificate is 
issuedafter a complex calculation is made to determine exactly where the Plimsoll mark should be positioned. These 
certificatestake several forms, such as international voyage, coastwise traffic, and Great Lakes operations.

By calculating the load line, the agency issuing a certificate has determined, among other aspects of seaworthiness, t
hat avessel has enough volume of ship (reserve buoyancy) above the waterline so that it will not be in danger of foun
dering orplunging when under way in heavy seas. In the United States the U.S. Coast Guard issues load line regulati
ons; routineassignment of load lines is handled by the American Bureau of Shipping.

A series of multilateral treaties has been executed to impose on signatories the responsibility of seeing that ships flyin
gunder their flag have safe load lines designated and that they are observed. The principal treaty is the InternationalC
onvention on Load Lines 1966. The use of load lines on vessels sailing under the flag of the United States is mandate
d byfederal law (46 U.S.C.A. 86 [1973]). The treaties typically do not apply to ships of war, small ships, pleasure boat
s, andfishing vessels.

Purpose and Necessity of Load Lines

The fundamental purpose of a Load Line is to allot a maximum legal limit upto which a ship can be loaded. By
prescribing such limits, the risk of having the vessel sailing with inadequate freeboard and buoyancy can be limited. A
vessel should be having sufficient freeboard at all times, any exceptions made will result in insufficient stability and
excessive stress on the ship’s hull. This is where load lines play an important role, as it makes the task of detecting
whether the vessel is over-loaded and it’s freeboard tremendously easy and effortless.

However, since the buoyancy and immersion of the vessel largely depends on the type of water and it’s density, it is
not practical to define a standard freeboard limit for the ship at all times. For this reason, the convention has put
regulations which divides the world into different geographical zones each having different prescribed load line.

For example, A vessel sailing in Winter on North Atlantic Ocean will have a greater freeboard than on a voyage in
Tropical Zones and Fresh waters.

Load Line

As we have already defined above, Load Line is a special marking positioned amidships. All vessels of 24 meters and
more are required to have this Load line marking at the centre position of the length of summer load water line.

There are two types of Load line markings:-

1. Standard Load Line marking – This is applicable to all types of vessels.

2. Timber Load Line Markings – This is applicable to vessels carrying timber cargo.

These marks shall be punched on the surface of the hull making it visible even if the ship side paint fades out. The
marks shall again be painted with white or yellow colour on a dark background / black on a light background. The
complete Load line markings consist of 3 vital parts.

1. Deck Line – It is a horizontal line measuring 300mm by 25mm. It passes through the upper surface of the
freeboard.
 2. Load Line Disc – It is 300mm diameter and 25mm thick round shaped disc. It is intersected by a horizontal
line. The upper edge of the horizontal line marks the ‘Summer salt water line’ also known as ‘Plimsol Line’.
3. Load Lines – Load lines are horizontal lines extending forward and aft from a vertical line placed at a
distance of 540mm from the centre of the disc. They measure 230mm by 23mm. The upper surfaces of the
load lines indicate the maximum depths to which the ships maybe submerged in different seasons and
circumstances.

S – Summer :- It is the basic freeboard line at the same level as the Plimsol Line. Other load lines are marked based
on this Summer freeboard line.

T – Tropical :- It is 1/48th of summer draft marked above the Summer load line.

W – Winter :- It is 1/48th of summer draft marked below the Summer load line.

WNA – Winter North Atlantic :- It is marked 50mm below the Winter load line. It applies to voyages in North Atlantic
( above 36 degrees of latitude) during winter months.

F – Fresh Water :- It is the summer fresh water load line. The distance between S and F is the Fresh Water
Allowance (FWA).

TF – Tropical Fresh Water :- It is the fresh water load line in Tropical. It is marked above the T at an amount equal to
FWA.

Timber Load Line Markings

Ships engaged in the timber deck cargo trade are required to have a special set of Load lines known as the Timber
Loadlines. Such vessels shall comply with the Code of Safe Practices for Ships Carrying Timber Deck Cargo in
construction and other requirements obtaining greater reserve buoyancy and lesser summer freeboard.

Timber cargo vessels will have a second set of Load Lines marked similar to the standard load lines positioned
540mm abaft the centre loadline disc.

The letter marking of the timber loadline are different and are prefixed by ‘L’ meaning ‘Lumber’.

LS – Lumber Summer :- Its upper edge marks the summer salt water timber loadline. It is situated at a specified level
above the Plimsol line.

LW – Lumber Winter :- It is 1/36th of the lumber summer draft below LS.

LT – Lumber Tropical :- It is 1/48th of the lumber summer draft above LS.

LWNA – Lumber Winter North Atlantic :- It is at the same level as WNA.

LF – Lumber Fresh water :- It is situated above the LS by an amount equal FWA.

LTF – Lumber Tropical Fresh Water :- It is positioned above LT by an amount equal to FWA.