Recently, three students in their final year of nautical studies at NTNU in Aalesund contacted us with a request for testing the capacity of one of our lifeboats.

They were working on their bachelor’s thesis, focusing on the topic of space and capacity on board lifeboats. The background for this is that lifeboats used for evacuating ships are subject to the SOLAS Convention (LSA Code). The code sets several requirements, including stability and average weight per person in a fully loaded lifeboat. The average weight of a Norwegian today is higher than the standard weight and volume specified in the code, so they wanted to test whether a lifeboat can handle being fully loaded.

The lifeboat used, a Harding 2014-model, has a capacity of 36 people. Volunteers from their school, as well as course participants and instructors from ASK Safety, gladly took part. They boarded the lifeboat one by one from each side, met in the middle, and then filled up the lifeboat. The bachelor’s thesis is due before the summer, and we wish Andrine, Thomas, and Benedicte the best of luck with the final stages of their work!