The requirement of loading instrument for bulk carriers is governed by SOLAS chapter XII, regulation 11. Even though there is no statutory requirement for loading computer onboard other ships, classification societies require all tankers of more than 100 meters to have type approved loading instrument. even otherwise so, Loadicator has rather been a necessity onboard ships. And once we have something onboard, it is duty of ship staff to ensure that it complies with its testing and record keeping procedures.
There are two parts of the question. First relates to the documents and certificates a ship is required to have onboard with respect to loadicators and second the testing requirement of the loadicator.
Documents required for Loadicator
There are three main documents ship should have for it to be actually complying with Loadicator requirements. These are
Class certificate for loadicator: This certificate is issued by the class and gives the details of the loadicator software as well as the hardware on which it is installed, including the details of the Make, model and serial number of the computer. Master and chief officer must ensure that the approved loading computer’s details matches with the details in this certificate. The certificate may even sometimes have the printer’s detail that is connected with the approved loadicator.
If you do not find this certificate onboard, you should check in the class survey status report if the loading computer is included in the list. If yes, the certificate can be asked from the class through your office. If No, then shipping office need to consult ship’s classification society for approval of loading computer.
Class approved Loadicator Manual: This is the user manual of the loadicator which is from the maker of the loadicator software. A class approved copy of the user manual should be onboard. If there was ever a class change associated with the ship, it is important to ensure that approval stamp of the current classification society is endorsed on the manual.
Class approved loadicator test conditions: To be very clear, these are not the conditions in the stability booklet of the ship. The stability conditions in the stability booklet are made by the yard and these are not the print outs from the loadicator software. These are also not the test conditions stamped by the class during annual class surveys. These are usually in the form of a booklet specifically titled “ test conditions for loadicator” with class stamp. These are usually provided during yard delivery of the vessel or after the loadicator is installed for the first time and approved by the class.
Once you have these three documents / certificates, you are OK with the certification part.
Testing requirements for the Loadicator
Testing by ship staff: The Loadicator is required to be tested periodically ( interval to be as per SMS of the vessel) by ship staff for its accuracy. The test procedure includes choosing a text condition from the approved test conditions, entering the exact same data in the loadicator and comparing the results with the approved test conditions. The important point to note is that the data need to be manually entered and not opened from a pre-saved file as it is not acceptable to classification society as well as OCIMF to simply retrieve a stored test condition and comparing it with approved test condition.
Annual testing of Loadicator in presence of Class : During annual class surveys, loadicator need to be tested for its accuracy in presence of a class surveyor. The procedure of testing is same as the quarterly testing but in here the class surveyor would ask for the print out of the test condition and he would stamp it and give it to the ship for ship’s records.
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About Capt Rajeev Jassal
Capt. Rajeev Jassal has sailed for over 24 years mainly on crude oil, product and chemical tankers. He holds MBA in shipping & Logistics degree from London. He has done extensive research on quantitatively measuring Safety culture onboard and safety climate ashore which he believes is the most important element for safer shipping.
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Red to above testing procedure for loadicators, kindly confirm if we should enter 10% more or less than as mentioned in the test condition I order to check if the figures are changing accordingly...
That is not a requirement Mathew..but you need to use different conditions like full ballast and full loaded which will ensure that in any case..
Sir please give more articles about bulk carrier
We are working on that Siva and you will get it very soon.
Thanks sir for your valuable article, I m preparing for mate and find your notes too much helpful.
Glad that I could be of some help to you Vishwajeet.. Let me know if you any further help or if you have any question anytime.. All the best for your exams..
What is diff bet loadicator and loading instrument?
Both are the name for the same equipment...
what should be done in case of loadicator failure in port ?
You can load the loadicator software in an alternate computer. If you mean online function of loadicator then it is not required to be online. We can manually feed the data into the loadicator every hour to check the stability.
offline mode - getting ullages from tanks - using ullage table - stability booklet - the software will it show all SF, BM everything
Yes.. It will show all the stability data even if the values are entered manually. In fact not all ships have online loadicator and ship staff have to enter values manually.
what abt tanks in engine room do we need to get that also or not. surveyor question is like "how will you load when loadicator fails ?" --- what we have to reply them sir kindly clarify
We need to clarify from the surveyor what does he mean by loadicator failing. If he meant online function of loadicator not working then we can input all the values manually. If he meant loadicator software crashed, then we can install the software again and use it. But if he meant that we cannot locate even the software CD then we can use manual calculation to calculate draft and GM by using Hydrostatic particulars from stability booklet for each stage of the loading operation. We will however not know SF and BM.
what are the loadicator alarms for bulk carrier ?
I have not been on bulk carrier so I cannot really comment on that but I do not think that Loadicator alarms on bulk carrier would be any different than other ships. The alarms for High SF/BM, alarms for intact stability not complying, alarms for overloading are the few that I can think of.
its a page must to bookmark thank u sir
Thank you Ankit..
sir what is sf correction table and where it is found onboard????????
I have never come across SF correction tables if you are referring SF as Sheer Force.
helo sir. please provide IMO Guidelines for making a Loadicator, taking into acount the weather criteria. for example..if SF and BM shows 100%, on what calculation basis. sea and port conditions are based on what value of weather conditions, what wind force value, swell ht..etc...pls advise.
It is not the weather conditions that are taken into account for calculating the maximum permissible values of SF and BM. Also these guidelines are given by the IACS. These are some complex formulae. You can <a href="http://www.iacs.org.uk/document/public/Publications/Resolution_changes/PDF/UR_S11_Rev6_pdf1331.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">read these guidelines here</a>.
Question: is the loading master connected to VDR (Voyage Data Recorder)?
May or may not be. Will depend upon the ship owners but it is not a requirement to connect loading master to the VDR.
you sir for this article on loadicator. Sir I just want to know that how much is allowable SF. And BM and ship ..and and on what basis it is decided
We need to keep the SF & BM to less than 100% which is the maximum allowable limit. There are some complex calculations for deciding the maximum limit of the SF/BM. I have share these calculation link in one of the earlier comment on this blog. I hope that can be of some help.
where do v find the maximum limit of sf and bm? is it the stability booklet?
Yes, it will be there in stability booklet. It will also be there in approved loadicator.
I hope you will not mind me following up on a couple of the queries above, as I used to work as a Class Surveyor and now for a loading Computer supplier. For SF correction tables I suspect this means SF bulkhead correction factors assigned by Class. These should be stated in the loading manual and would be included in any self-respecting loading computer. As for the weather criteria associated with permissible SF/BM, Rules are generally based on 10year return North Atlantic seas for the wave bending component (Hs about 8m I think). Concerning stat/class requirements for onboard loading computers, since Jan 2016 it has been a requirement for tankers to have a means to check damage stability compliance and in effect this means they need a loading computer either at the next renewal survey or now, if a new ship. There are also new requirements due in 2017 concerning Type 4 systems for emergency response decision support so while the mandatory situations in regulations are currently ship-type and sized based the focus is on general provision for all ships in the near future. Hope this might support the earlier discussions.
Thanks for the great insight Philip..
Sir, can you please throw some light on how to check damage stability criteria by using Loadicator. Are loadicators certified by class for this function too or is it just an added improvised feature? Thanx
Sir please advise.. wot does surveyor mean by asking type of loadicator onbd ur ship?? TIA
I am not sure what he would want to know by this question but all I can think of is "if the loadicator is on line or offline", does the loadicator has damage stability calculation in it" or he simply wants to know the make and model of the loadicator software.
Appreciate your effort Sir!!
Very useful article....nicely explained...
Thanks Ganesan..
I'm preparing for chief mates exam and this information is very easy and usefull to understand.. thank you for such great help.
Thanks Mayur.. Let me know if you come across any doubt while preparing for your exams..
Is thereany allowable limit for the test condition. If the value after the comparison is more or less. What is acceptable Figure.
Please advise about this error tolerance limiy in test condition
Tolerance limits Table are provided in the Manual and depend on Class Requirement.Generally these are on "% " basis. Tolerance % = ((Base Value-Input Value)/Base Value)*100.
Sir a very helpful info thanks a lot. But I have question. I am on board a vessel from Maersk and I found my certificate from loading compiter didnt mention anything about loading computer specification and I try to drop a mail to our Superintendent only to receive a negative reply that specification for loading computer will only be needed if I have only one computer onboard. Im ona container vessel. Please help me on this matter. Thanks
Hello Sir !! Appreciate your kind efforts for making this article. Just wanted to know the 5 DIFFERENT TEST CONDITIONS IN Loadicator ?? Thanks & Regards Shiva
appreciate your kind efforts sir. kindly can you tell me how much is the difference allowed in weight ,draft or any other thing while testing Loadicator onboard.
Sir what types of ship is provided with loadicator other than bulk carrier and tanker. Is there any regulation for that (their is for bulk carrier in chap 12 of solas) in solas
Good day sir, My question is what are the information I will get from Loadicator.. Thanks in advance
Sir how to go about loading if the loadicator fails for some reason?
This is excellent and l must say this article and other of all the articles have been a lifesaver to many seafarers preparing for their various ticket upgrade including me. thanks a lot and keep up the good work.
appreciate and found it useful for mates oral.
Sir please advise the limitations of loadicator (as it is required for my mates orals). Thanks
Excellent Information sir. Sir could you elaborate on Stability calculation without Loadicator.
Please advise about this error tolerance limiy in test condition
thank you very much sir....for such a wonderful article
Inaccuracies between the draughts as calculated by the ship stability software and the draughts as read, despite dock water density being correctly input into the programme on each occasion. Briefly describe: (i) the possible causes of these discrepancies (ii) how they may be compensated for to ensure that the draughts as calculated by the software are the same as the draughts as read.
According to MARPOL annex 1 Reg 28 , the loading instruments which was installed on Tankers should export both of Intact & Damage Stability conditions , but can we calculate both for Intact & Damage conditons in Loading instruments on ships other than tankers ?
Dear Capt. Please can you explain what is different between C10 or C40 or C41 or C16 test condition on Loadmaster software.
Thank you for your article. I just want to ask you a question, what we do if there's a big difference between load conditions and our calculation ?!
sir, is there any fixed interval for lodicator test ?
Is there any specific regulation or Flag/Class circular, that makes clear the testing intervals by ship's staff? other than SMS procedures? (usually SMS procedures are base on regulations requirements hence I can't find any Requirement for the intervals of testing by the crew). Thanks in advance!
HI, sir can you please advise,how to order wire rope for anchor lashing, what should be length and swl etc.? TIA
Sir, under which certificate loadicator is mentioned, other than class cert for loadicator. Safety equipment or loadline certificate .
Good day sir, is there any specific statutory regulation restricting the loadicator to harbor condition calculation during cargo operation in port instead of practicing seagoing condition? Thanks
Well detailed on the subject. Appreciate.
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Thank you sir for this article on loadicator. I am preparing for my mates exam and this is really helpful. Thank You.
Glad that it helped you Shresth. Let me know if have any other question or if i can be of any help for your Mates Exam. All the best.
Rajeev Jassal sir thanks for your post , is there any possibility to check or to understand more regarding loadicator for container vessel as i am bout to give orals here in uk this week. Basically helping to know more about it by which i can carry out safe cargo operation on board
Thank you sir for ur valuable information
Good day sir, can u pls advice the limitation involved with loadicator ?