Some Considerations Regarding the Safety of Touristic Vessels Operating in the Albanian Bays

Ship’s stability is one among the foremost important and complicated concept regarding ship and navigation’s safety and it's governed by maritime law as well as maritime codes. In Albanian bays, there has been considerable maritime tourism development in recent years, which has consequently brought about an increasing demand for passenger ships offering mainly one day cruises. The ships intended for this type of service are of different typologies: tourist vessels built especially for this destination, but there are many vessels which have changed the destination mainly from fishing vessel to tourist vessel. From the field observations along with contacts with the port authorities and Albanian maritime administration, it is revealed that these ships bare problems related to meeting service and security standards that they offer. Considering existence of such problems and the absence of technical data related to the safety of ships, it is required that geometric and stability calculations are performed with the view meeting the norms of stability. In this paper we will be presenting the causes that lead to ship stability failure and their impact on navigation safety. A case study of the calculation of the ship stability is going to be presented, the causes are going to be analysed and the possible ways of stability failures are going to be assessed. Vessel’s intact stability is a fundamental component of seaworthiness so it's in the interest of all owners/operators to be aware of this subject and make sure that their vessel has a satisfactory level of stability in order to ensure its safety as well as that of people on board.