Chapter 2

BASIC DEFINITIONS
OF SHIP GEOMETRY
AND SHIP LINES
Dimensions on a ship

Draught – British
Draft - American
Ship dimensions (breadth, depth, draught, overall length) can be expressed either as
extreme or moulded. Extreme dimensions are measured from outside, and moulded
dimensions are measured from inside. The difference between the two is the total
plate thickness.
 Plimsoll Marks - Are the marks that indicate the maximum permissible
displacement that the ship are allowed to be loaded with. They are at
amidships on either side of the ship and also show the classification society
by which the ship is classified. Also at bow, amidships and stern are the
draught marks to give an indication of the draught.

Unless otherwise stated, in calculations related to ship geometry, moulded dimensions

and summer draught is taken into account
Basic Ship Terminology
Block Coefficient (CB) : Block coefficient is defined as the ratio of the
displacement volume of the ship to the volume of a box of length equal to length
between perpendiculars, breadth to the waterline breadth and depth to the
draught of the ship:


CB =
LBP BT

Block coefficient and ship speed are closely related- the higher the ship speed, the lower
the block coefficient.
 Ship Type Block Coefficient Service Speed
(knots)
Lighter 0.90 5-10
Bulk Carrier 0.80-0.85 12-17
Tanker 0.80-0.85 12-16
LNG ship General Cargo 0.55-0.75 13-12
Container ship 0.50-0.70 14-25
Ferry boat 0.50-0.70 15-25
Frigate 0.45-0.50 30-35

ULCC Tanker
Sail yacht
Frigate

ULCC (Tanker) Container ship

Waterplane area coefficient (CA, CWP): Waterplane area coefficient is
the ratio of the waterplane area at which the ship floats to the area of a
rectangle of length equal to the length of the waterline length and breadth
to the waterline breadth of the ship.
Midship section coefficient (CM): Midship section coefficient expresses
the ratio of the area of the immersed midship section to the area of the
rectangle having the same breadth as the waterline breadth and depth as
the draught of the ship:

AM
CM =
BT
Longitudinal prismatic coefficient (CP): Longitudinal prismatic coefficient
is used to define how much the shape of the hull gets finer towards the
forward and stern. It is defined as the ratio between the displacement
volume of the ship to the volume of the "prism" with cross section equal to
the midship cross section and length equal to the waterline length of the ship.

 CB
CP = =
AM LBP CM
Vertical prismatic coefficient, CVP : Vertical prismatic coefficient is used to
define how much the shape of the hull gets finer towards the baseline as
descended from the loaded waterline. For a wedge type ship it is equal to
unity, and for fast ships it approaches to 0.8.

 CB
CVP = =
AWPT C A
Dinghy (L/B ≈2), and destroyer HMS Glamorgan (L/B = 10)
Example
A bulk carrier has a between perpendiculars length of 240 m, breadth 40 m
and summer draught of 13 m. The midship area is 500 m2. Prismatic
coefficient is 0.85.
Calculate,
a. The midship section coefficient
b. Displacement volume
c. Displacement tonnage
d. Block coefficient
AM 500m 2
CM = = = 0.9615
BT 40m 13m

CP =   = CP  AM L = 0.85  500m 2  240m = 102000 m3
AM L
 =   = 1.025 t / m3 102000m3 = 104550 tons
 102000 m3
CB = = = 0.8173
LBT 240m  40m 13m
 2 1
 =  r3, AM =  r 2 , AWP =  r 2 , L = B = 2r , T = r
3 2
2 3

r  B 2r
CB = = 3 = = =2
LBT 2r  2r  r 6 T r
1 2 L 2r
AM 2
r  = =1
CM = = = B 2r
BT 2r  r 4 1
2
2 3 L 2r 3 3

r = =    2 3 = 1.563
CP = = 3 =
2 1 1
 
3 2 3 3
 r 
AM L 1  r 2  2r 3
2 3 
AWP  r2 
CA = = =
LB 2 r  2 r 4
2 3

r 2
CVP = 3
= 2 =
AWpT  r  r 3
Example
A general cargo ship has LBP =120 m, B = 20 m, T = 8 m and CWP = 0.80.
How much her draught shall change if she is loaded with a cargo of 150
tons, provided that she keeps her trimless position?

It is assumed that waterplane area of the ship is unchanged for small changes
of displacement.

Amount of weight added (w) =γ × (Change in underwater volume)

  = AWP  T

Therefore,

 
T =

=   =
w
=
150 t
= 0.076m = 7.6 cm
AWP AWP  ( CWP LB ) 1.025 t / m  0.80 120m  20m
3
Example
A general cargo ship with LBP = 120m, B = 20 m , T = 8 m and Δ = 14000 tons
has a hull shape defined by CM = 0.985 and CWP = 0.808. The ship is lengthened
by the addition of a parallel body of length 10 m, maintaining the same draught.
Find her new CB, CP , CWP and the displacement.
Volume of the added portion:

 V = AM   L = CM  B  T   L = 0.985  20 m  8 m  10m = 1576m3

Weight of the added portion:

w =    V = 1.025 t / m3 1576 m3 = 1615.4 t

New displacement weight : ∆′ = ∆ + 𝑤 = 14000𝑡 + 1615.4𝑡 = 15615.5 𝑡

∆′ 15615𝑡
New displacement tonnage : ∇′ = = 1.025𝑡𝑚−3 = 15234 𝑚3
𝛾
 15234.5 m3
CB = = = 0.732
LBT (120 + 10 ) m  20m  8m
  15234.5t
CP = = = = 0.7436
AM L ( CM BT ) L 0.985  20m  8m  (120 + 10 ) m


AWP A + B   L CWP LB + B   L CWP L +  L 0.808 120m + 10m
 =
CWP = WP = = = = 0.822
LB LB L'B L + L 120m + 10m
SHIP DRAWINGS
Waterlines
Shear plan and the buttock lines
Section lines
In addition to the shear, body and waterline and buttock plans, there can be one or
more “diagonal” plans. Waterlines are drawn on the right hand side (bottom) of the
centreline, while diagonals to the left hand side (upper part of the centerline).
Buttocks are drawn on the shear plan.
Half breadth at Station 8, 12 feet waterline
Table of offsets are prepared to give a visual presentation of halfbreadths at
various Stations and Waterlines. (A matrix representation of the hull with
Stations as the rows and Waterlines as columns)
 DEFINITIONS RELATED TO THE TONNAGE OF SHIPS

Deadweight (DWT) is the total weight of the cargo, fuel, potable water,
personnel and their belongings on board a ship measured in metric tons.
Since the amount of cargo and the distance to which this cargo is carried are
what makes a ship profitable, deadweight tonnage is a measure of the
money-earning capacity of a merchant ship. Therefore, most merchant ships
are measured in terms of their deadweight tonnage.

However, containerships are rated according to the number of containers

they can carry on board. As a measure, a twenty-foot standard container is
used. (6.06 m×2.44 m×2.59 m) Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) is the
measure used to assess the money-earning capacity of a containership.

Ro-ro ships are evaluated on the total length of internal lanes on which the
trucks, cars or trailers can be parked upon.

For engineering purposes or for the ship stability considerations, total weight
of the ship (the weight of the displaced water, by the Law of Archimedes),
called ‘’displacement tonnage’’, is used.
Displacement tonnage (Δ) : According to the law of Archimedes, the weight of
a floating body is equal to the weight of water displaced by it. This weight () is
called “the displacement”.

 = 
 DWT = Full – LWT
Deadweight tonnage is the indication of the cargo carrying capacity of
the ship, since its main components are the weight of the cargo and the
fuel used to carry the cargo.
Deadweight tonnage is the yardstick for commercial evaluation of a ship.

The legal measures of the ship, net and gross registered tonnages are
measured on volume basis. One ton of registered tonnage is a volume of
100 cubic feet, or 2.83 cubic meters.

1 ton = 100 ft3 = 2.83 m3

• Gross tonnage, or "gross register tons" (GRT) is the definition of the closed
volumes (V) within the ship.

• Net tonnage, or "net register tons" (NRT) is the value of the closed
volumes that normally contribute to the cargo and passenger carriage of the
ship.
In order to prevent ambiguity defining net and gross tonnages, IMO has
promulgated a set of rules for the determination of those. Hence,

Gross tonnage:
GRT = K1V

K1 = 0.2 + 0.02 log 10 V

Net tonnage :
N1 : Number of passengers in
cabins with 8 berths or more
N2 : Number of passengers not
included in N1

 GRT 
Vc: Total volume of cargo spaces (m3) K3 = 125
. 1 + 
T : Moulded draught amidships(m.)  10,000 
D : Moulded depth amidships(m.)

K2 = 0.2 + 0.02 log10Vc

With the advent of container ships in the last few decades, a new measure based
on the number of containers such a ship can carry has been devised. This is the
so-called “Twenty foot equivalent unit (TEU)”. It is the number of standard
twenty foot (6.1 m  2.44 m  2.59 m) containers that a container ship can carry
onboard. Container-handling capacities of ports and terminals are also
evaluated in terms of TEU.

As for the September 2024, the largest containerships so far built have 24346 TEU
capacity, and are registered as 233,328 GRT (MSC Irina class).
Likewise, Ro-ro ships are sometimes referred as the total length of parked trucks
(articulated lorries) they can carry onboard.
EXAMPLE
A tanker has a total internal volume of 150 000 m3. Her draught at loaded
waterline (LWL) is 15 m and total depth is 20 m. Total volume of cargo
spaces is 135 000 m3. Find her net and gross tons.

Given : V = 150 000 m3 Vc = 135000 m3 T = 15 m D = 20 m

N1 = N2 = 0 (Tankers do not carry passengers)
GRT = K1V
K1 = 0.2 + 0.02 log10 V
K1 = 0.2 + 0.02 log10 (150000 ) = 0.3035
GRT = 0.3035 150000 = 45528 tons

K2 = 0.2 + 0.02 log10Vc

K 2 = 0.2 + 0.02log10 (135000 ) = 0.3026
 4 15m 
2

NRT = 0.3026 135000    + 0 = 40851 tons

 3  20m 
EXAMPLE
A cruise liner has a gross registered tonnage of 50 000 tons. She has 1200
passenger cabins, with two berths each. Find her net tonnage.

Given: GRT = 50 000 t , N1 = 2×1200 = 2400 passengers, N2 = 0, Vc = 0

 GRT   50000 
K 3 = 1.25 1 +  = 1.25  1 +  = 7.50
 10000   10000 

 2400 
NRT = 0 + 7.50   0 +  = 1800 tons
 10 