The IMO manoeuvrability standard was established for preventing sea accidents such as collisions and strandings due to the lack of manoeuvrability. The standard of ship manoeuvrability enforced by resolution MSC.l37(76) has been applied to vessels of 100m or more in length and all chemical tankers and gas carriers regardless of the length, which were constructed on or after 1 July 1994. The IMO manoeuvrability standard is able to be divided into three kinds as followings; (1) Turning capability standard: Estimated values in design stage are to be certified by turning circle test of the actual vessel. (2) Course keeping quality standard : Estimated values in design stage are to be certified by 10 deg. and 20 deg. zig-zag tests of the actual vessel. (3) Shortest stopping distance standard : Estimated value in design stage is to be certified by the shortest stopping distance tested by the actual vessel. In this paper, the authors verified the criteria of IMO manoeuvrability standard comparing them with the values resulted from sea trial tests of various kinds of actual vessels and examined separately the validity of all criteria of the standard.

• Chun-Ki Lee