Stability Booklet Offers Simple Instruction for Officers

Captain Tom Abbenhues has published a stability booklet aimed at helping seafarers gain a better understand of the theory and practice of safe cargo operations. 

The 63-page booklet - Stability of merchant ships for the beginning officer - explains the basics of stability, using small experiments to visualize what is actually happening on a ship and demonstrating the effects that are being calculated. 

“Our officers are overwhelmed with extra duties on board and rest hours’ concerns,” says Abbenhues, “and the pressure for efficiency being put on them is building. I hope that this booklet will help. 

“In the Dutch merchant navy, I have always sailed with cadets and young officers as part of my crew and tried my best to mentor them,” says Abbenhues. “I have discovered that, in most cases, there is insufficient knowledge of essential parts of our profession including stability and loading. We all can calculate the formulas needed to determine the stability state of the ship but to understand the outcome of those formulas and to know what to do with them is a totally different matter.”

Abbenhues has used his teaching experience to present the subject matter simply, and he has included time-saving tips and tricks which can supplement the sometimes overly-theoretical approach taken by other texts. 

The booklet contains explanations of:

* Archimedes historical background of stability 
* Intact static stability
* Intact dynamic stability
* Longitudinal stability 
* Grain stability
* Free surface moment
* Constant
* All abbreviations and/or terms used.

It also contains calculations for: 

* Intact static stability
* Intact dynamic stability
* Longitudinal stability 
* Grain stability
* Constant

The cost of the booklet is €15,50 including tax but excluding shipping. It can be ordered by email [email protected]