Load lines (Plimsoll Mark)

2022 CAPT. Amin Al Qawasmeh 1

Most ships will be assigned a minimum freeboard and a corresponding set of load lines. These will be permanently
marked on each side of the ship ( certain classes of ships are exempt from these requirements).

Load lines assigned to a ship correspond to ocean areas or zones. Oceans around the world are divided into these
zones in terms of both geographical location and time of year (season). By ensuring that the appropriate seasonal
load line mark is not submerged at sea in saltwater (RD 1.025), the ship will always have the necessary reserve
buoyancy to ensure seaworthiness.

To ensure that the appropriate load line is never submerged at sea, it is essential that the learner has a thorough
knowledge of the load line markings, their spacing and dimensions. The ability to perform calculations to determine
the maximum amount to load is also important, particularly to the shipowner, as the absolute maximum cargo in terms
of weight should be carried whenever possible. It is also essential that the ship is never 'overloaded', as a contravention
of the conditions of load line assignment will arise, resulting in the ship being unseaworthy with respect to legislative
requirements.

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 Learning Objectives

•Understand the important factors that are taken into account when assigning a freeboard to a ship. 
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• Understand the terms Type ‘A’Ship and Type 'B' ship. 
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•Know the dimensions of a set of load lines as would be assigned to a ship. 
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• Understand the term Fresh Water Allowance and derive the formula for Fresh Water Allowance.
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• Understand the term Dock Water Allowance.
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•Be able to perform calculations relating to the loading of a ship to the appropriate load line mark.

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Factors for Consideration in Assigning a
Freeboard
These can be summarized as follows:

1- Structural strength of hull:

The general structural strength of the hull must be sufficient for the draught corresponding to the freeboard
assigned. Ships built and maintained in conformity with the requirements of a classification society recognized
by the Administration may be considered to possess adequate strength.(International Convention on Load Lines,
1966 Annex I - Reg. 1).

The freeboard assigned should never be so small that the deadweight that puts the ship down to the marks
·would overstress the structure. When considering the strength of the structure, the load deadweight is assumed
to be reasonably distributed. Ships that are intended for unusual patterns of loading, such as a bulk carrier
designed for loading in alternate holds will, by necessity, be built to a higher standard.

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2-Reserve buoyancy:
The freeboard assigned will ensure that the ship has adequate reserve buoyancy in all conditions of loading. Reserve
buoyancy may be considered to be the enclosed volume above the waterline, which will also include the first level
of superstructure above the freeboard deck, such as a forecastle or poop, which can be made properly weathertight.

3-The superstructure is a decked structure on a freeboard deck, extending from side to side of the ship or with the
side plating, not being inboard of the shell plating more than 4% of the breadth (B). (International Convention on
Load Lines, 1966 Annex I - Reg. 3).

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If the freeboard deck has sufficient sheer, then reserve buoyancy is further increased. Sheer may be defined as
being the curvature of the deck in the forward and aft direction.

Superstructure and increased sheer attract reductions to assigned freeboard when being calculated.

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Means of preventing entry of, water into
the hull
When a freeboard is assigned, a distinction is made between ships with different openings in the freeboard deck and
the means by which watertight or weathertight integrity is maintained.

Consider these ship types and their hatch closing arrangements:

•A cargo ship with large hatch openings made weathertight by wooden covers, tarpaulins, battens, and wedges.

•a more modern cargo ship with large hatch openings made weathertight by steel hatch covers.
•a tanker that has only small hatchways closed by watertight gasketed covers of steel..

The former will be assigned the greater freeboard and the latter with the smaller freeboard.

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4- Safety of crew on deck:

Certain ships may be assigned reduced free boards because of the favorable nature of their design. If ships of a similar
size are considered, tankers will have the lowest freeboards assigned. However, it must be assured that the crew has safe
access on deck, bearing in mind that the lower the freeboard, the greater the amount of water likely to be shipped. To
ensure crew safety, a raised catwalk on tankers, or perhaps a fenced-off walkway alongside hatchways on other ship
types, must be provided to the extent prescribed in the conditions of the assignment.

5- Potential wetness of the weather deck:

In heavy weather, water will be shipped on deck. By ensuring that the foc'sle head is a reasonable height above the
load waterline, water shipped can be reduced. This is achieved by a minimum bow height being prescribed. The
freeboard ultimately assigned to the ship must be sufficient to ensure this.

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6- Ability to free ·water off deck:
When water is shipped, the added weight will reduce the freeboard, albeit temporarily. All ships must have
suitable water-freeing arrangements. Ships such as tankers, that are assigned the lowest freeboards for their size,
are likely to ship the greatest amounts of water. To overcome the obvious problem that will arise, such ships are
required to be fitted with rails instead of bulwarks for at least half the length of the exposed free board and
superstructure decks.

 7-Stability in the normal loaded condition:

All ships must comply with appropriate stability requirements stipulated in the Code on Intact Stability for All
Types of Ships Covered by IMO Instruments (IMO).

8-Degree of subdivision and stability after damage:

The more compartments that a ship is subdivided into, the greater will be the ability of the ship to remain afloat after
suffering damage. This is investigated in ships and the residual stability in the damaged condition must be sufficient.
Therefore, this is an important factor to be considered in assigning a freeboard.

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Type A and Type B ships
A Type A ship is one which :

1.is designed to carry only liquid cargoes in bulk.

2.Has high integrity of the exposed deck with only small access openings to cargo compartments, closed by
watertight gasketed covers of steel or equivalent material.
3.Has a low permeability of loaded cargo compartments.

(Supplement relating to the International Convention on Load Lines, 1966. Regulation equivalent to Regulation
27).

A Type 'B' ship is any other ship that does not come within the above provisions.

A Type 'A' ship will normally be assigned a smaller freeboard than a Type B ship of similar size.

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Consider the two ships shown, each of similar hull construction:

Ship A is to carry an oil cargo.

Ship A
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 Ship B is to carry a cargo of iron ore.

Ship B
Holds are only partially full of iron ore, a very dense cargo. The permeability of the loaded
compartments is high, approximately 60% as shown. This means that 60% of the space in each
hold is capable of being flooded.
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 Justification for the Type 'A' ship being assigned the lower freeboard is clearly
evident. Also, the integrity of the freeboard deck for the Type 'A' ship will be
much greater if the openings in the freeboard deck and means of closure are
considered.

It should also be noted that if a forward or after-end compartment had been

damaged, the ship would suffer a significant change of trim as well as sinkage.
This would worsen the situation.

A ship will always have some empty compartments. If one of these spaces should
become damaged, the freeboard will always reduce.

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Load Line Dimensions
The load lines as they would appear on the starboard side of a ship are shown.
The following points should be carefully
noted:

1- The notation assigned to the load lines is

as follows:
•S: Summer
•W: Winter
•T: Tropical
•WNA: Winter North Atlantic
•F: Fresh
•TF: Tropical Fresh

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Each load line indicates the minimum freeboard that applies to the seasonal zone and/or area, as stipulated
in the International Convention on Load Lines, 1966.
(Refer to Annex II: Zones, Areas, and Seasonal Periods).

2- The ship will be loaded to the appropriate load line when the waterline is level with the top edge of the
mark concerned when floating in saltwater (RD 1 .025).

3- The spacings between the load lines are measured from the top edge of one line to the top edge of the
other.

4- The assigned (Summer) freeboard is measured from the top edge of the Plimsoll line (which corresponds
to the top edge of the Summer line) to the top edge of the deck line.

5- The WNA load line mark is only assigned to ships that are I 00 meters or less in length. Ships over 100
m will load to the 'W' mark as appropriate.

6- With the exception of FWA and X, all dimensions are the same for all ships, regardless of the size of the
ship.

7- Load lines should be clearly and permanently marked on the ship's side, dark on a light background, or
vice versa.
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Fresh Water Allowance (FWA)
Fresh Water Allowance (FWA) of a ship is the number of millimeters by which they mean draught changes
when a ship passes from saltwater to freshwater, or vice versa when the ship is loaded to the summer
displacement.

TPCSW is the saltwater TPC value for the summer load draught.

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The ship as a hydrometer
If the load line marks are considered, the top of the summer mark and the top of the fresh mark act as the limits of a
scale of density that would appear on a hydrometer (an instrument for measuring liquid density).

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 - If the ship was loaded to the summer displacement in salt water, the waterline would be level with the
top edge of the summer (S) load line.

- If the ship was then towed into freshwater (RD 1.000), it would sink by the freshwater allowance such
that the waterline would now be level with the top edge of the fresh (F) load line.

- The reverse would happen if moving from FW to SW!

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Example
A ship floats in SW at the summer displacement of 1680 tonnes. If the TPC SW is 5.18, by how much will the draught
change if the ship is towed to a berth where the density of the water is 1.000 t/m 3?

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Dock Water Allowance (DWA)
The Dock Water Allowance (DWA) of a ship is the number of millimeters by which they mean draught changes
when a ship passes from saltwater to dock water, or vice versa when the ship is loaded to the summer
displacement.

Consider the load line marks shown. The top of the summer mark and the top of the fresh mark both act as the
limits of a scale of density, indicating the position of the salt water and fresh water waterlines respectively for a
ship loaded to the summer displacement. If such a ship was to be floating in water of an intermediate density,
termed dock water, the change in a draught when going from salt water to dock water can be easily determined.

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 Imagine the change in the draught that would occur if the ship was to go from SW to DW of RD 1.010. This is
simply a fraction of the FWA as shown.

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Example
A ship is loaded to its summer displacement and is to proceed downriver from a berth where the dock water RD is
1.004, to another berth where the dock water RD is 1.016. If the FWA is 260 mm, calculate the change in the draught
that will occur and state whether it is an increase or decrease.

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Load Line Calculations
When loading a ship, it is desirable to load as much cargo as possible.
If the ship is loaded in water that is less dense than saltwater, such as dock water, then allowance must be made
for the ship rising out of the water on reaching the sea, saltwater density being 1.025 t/m 3•

Consider the following situation:

A ship is loading in the summer zone in dock water RD 1.012. It can
legally load so that the saltwater waterline is level with the top edge of
the summer load line.

Consider the situation where the officer in charge loads cargo until the
dock water waterline is level with the summer load line.

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To avoid this situation, but to also ensure that too much cargo is never loaded, the amount to safely load can
be readily calculated.
The aim of the problem is to ensure that, on proceeding to sea, the ship rises to the desired seasonal load line
mark. This is achieved by considering the FWA or DWA as appropriate in the calculation.

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Example 1

A ship has a summer load draught of 5.80 m, FWA 140 mm, and TPC of 21.82. The ship is loading at a berth in dock
water RD 1.007 and the present draught is 5.74 m. Calculate the maximum amount of cargo that can still be loaded for
the ship to be at the summer load line mark on reaching the sea, allowing for 26 tonnes of fuel still to be loaded prior to
sailing.

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 Example 2
Sometimes a question may be a little more difficult and knowledge of the load line dimensions is necessary. It is
essential that a sketch is drawn to fully understand what is being asked!

A ship is floating in dock water RD 1.006. The waterline to port is 12 cm below the lower edge of the S mark and on
the starboard side is 4 cm above the upper edge of the 'W' mark. If the

summer displacement is 21,620 tonnes (corresponding to a draught in the saltwater of 6.86 m, TPC 18.6), how much
cargo remains to be loaded to ensure that the ship will be at the winter mark in salt water?

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 2022

THANK YOU
Presenter name CAPT. Amin Al Qawasmeh
CAPT. Amin Al Qawasmeh

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