SOLAS damage stability regulations do not embed a probabilistic description for the damage extent below water. A “worst case approach” is therefore used for the s factor when there are horizontal subdivision boundaries below water. This can lead to the underestimation of the ship survivability, and it prevents an effective assessment of the effect of horizontal subdivision boundaries below water. To make a step forward, this paper presents a “u-factor”, derived from statistical analysis of accidents data, which can be embedded in the SOLAS framework to account for horizontal subdivision boundaries below water, avoiding the need for the “worst case approach”.
