Reinforced Plastics: Composite superstructures offer weight and cost benefits.(Reprint)

Reducing the superstructure weight of passenger ferries and cruise ships can lead to improvements in fuel efficiency and other benefits, but until recently safety regulations made it very difficult to use composites on a large scale on these vessels. In 2002 the SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) II-2 regulation 17 (part F) was adopted. This permitted a functionally based safety design to be used as long as the same level of safety could be achieved as if the prescriptive rules had been used. Various feasibility studies have been undertaken since the rule change', the most notable being the Swedish-based LASS Project that started in 2005. As a result of this work, three of the LASS …