Tonnage Measurement of Ships
Highlights of the International Conference, 1969
By C. P. M u r p h y ~ and P. S. Stitt 2
THE IN~rERGOVERNMENTALMaritime Consultative O f
ganizat.ion (IMCO) through the Subcommittee on Ton-
nage Measurement of its Maritime Safety Committee in
1959 undertook to determine if it could develop auniversal
system for the tonnage measurement of ships. I t con-
sidered the matter for nine years in nine sessions of the
Subcommittee and seven sessions of the Working Group
of the Subcommittee. -\Iost of the sessions dealt, ahnost
exclusively with the problem of a universal system. In
1.968 after the Subcommittee had completed its work the
I M C O Secretariat distributed to governments three
basic proposMs, including draft Articles, llegulations,
and a Totmage Certificate in each case, which the Sub-
committee had prepared for a universal system of ton-
nage measurement of ships. There was also distributed
a modified version of one of the proposals suggested by
Denmark. Governmenls were requested to consider
the proposals as possible basic documents for an Inter-
national Conference on Tonnage Measurement to be
convened in London for a four-week period commencing
M a y 27, 1969.
The three basic proposals were:
Proposal A. This proposal was developed by Norway
after the Subcommittee had failed to ag~'ee on a new,
greatly simplified system. The proposal was a modi-
fication and adaptation of exisling systems. I t would
provide :for gross and net tonnages having values as
close as possible to those provhted by existing national
systems. The gross tonnage would comprise the space
under the second deck (upper deck in the else of a single-
deck ship) plus, in the case of a ship without a tonnage
m a r k or a ship having its tonnage m a r k submerged, the
space between the upper ~md second decks plus certain
spaces on or above the upper deck. In the case of a ship
with its tonnage mark not submerged, the space between
the upper and second decks would be treated in the
same way as the spaces on or above the upper deck. The
net tonnage would be obtained by deducting from the
gross tonnage the tonnage of eertMn spaces such as
crew accommodations, navigational spaces, including
water-ballast spaces, workshops and the like which are
not directly involved in the production of revenue for
1]~ear Admiral, U. S. Coast Guard; Chief, Office of Merchant
Marine Safety, U. S. Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington,
D.C.
2Admeasurement Branch, Merchant Marine Techlfieal Division,
Office of Merehanl Marine Safety, U. S. Coast Guard Head-
quarters, Washinglon, D. C.
356
the ship. [n the interest of simplicity of regult, lions aml
measurement procedures and of inhibiting the manipula-
lion of tonnages, all volumes measured would be molded
volumes. The concept of the tonnage m'-~rk scheme,
including the assignment of dual tonnages, was in-
corporated in the proposal.
Proposal B. This proposal was developed by the
United States. ]~, too, would provide for gross and net
tom,ages having vMues as close as possible to those pro-
vided by existing national systems. The proposed
system included methods of measurement and computa-
tion of tonnage entirely different from those of existing
systems. The gross totmage would be obtMned by
multiplying by a coefficient, as appropriate, the molded
volume of the space below the waterplane either at the
load line or at a tonnage mark attd adding to that product
the tonnage of passenger spaces on or above the upper
deck. The coefficient includes the depth-to-draft ratio
in addition t,o a linear factor designed to obtMn results
close to those obtained by exisling systems. The net
tormage would be obtMned independently of gross ton-
**age by inultiplying the volume of cargo and passenger
spaces by an appropriate coefficient. As in the case of
Proposal A the concept of the ~onnage ma~q~ scheme,
including the assignment of dual tonnages, was in-
corporated.
Proposal C. This proposal was sponsored jointly by
France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. I t would
provide for gross tonnage representing the total molded
volume of the ship in tons of 120 cubic feet or 3.4 cubic
meters. The proposal would not provide for net tonnage.
Instead it would provide for displacement in metric tons.
Unlike Proposals A and B, Proposal C would not in-
corporate the concept of the tonnage mark scheme. Ex-
cept in the case of a ship with a large enclosed exempted
space such as a shelter 'tween decks the system would
obtain gross tonnages reasonably close to those obtained
by present national systems. The value for displace-
ment would not, be close either to present gross or nel,
tonnages.
Observations, comments and recommendations made
by governments invited to the conference and distributed
by the I: [CO Secretariat indicated t h a t a large majority
of the govermnents favored ProposM C. The United
States initiMly favored Proposal B, which it had spon-
sored, ~md opposed Proposal C because it would not
provide any values reasonably close to present national
net tonnages. After conducting computer studies of the
MARINE TECHNOLOGY
various proposals and of a number of possible variations
of the proposals and assessing the support, for Proposal C,
the United States and Norway conceived a compromise
which Norway agreed to put into regulation form and
propose for the conference.
According to the compromise proposal, which became
known as the Norwegian Proposal, the shelter-deck
concept would be retained but; the tonnage mark and the
dual tonnages on the tonnage eertifieates would be
eliminated. The net tonnage would be the same as pro-
posed by the United States in Proposal B. The gross
tonnage would be a constant function of the molded
volume of the space below the second deck or the upper
deck, depending upon whether a shelter-deck or full
scantling type tonnage is to be sought, plus a constant
function of the space for the berthing and accommodation
of passengers on and above that deck. The gross ton-
nage formula was, therefore, similar in concept to the
gross tonnage formula in Proposal 13. The computer
study showed that substituting the aetuaJ measured
volume to the appropriate deck for the corresponding
volume extrapolated from the displacement volume as in
Proposal B gave more precise results than the formula
in ProposM B.
On May 27, 1969, representatives of 48 governments
met in London to draw up and adopt the International
Convention on Tonnage Measurement of" Ships, 1969.
The l l - m e m b e r United States delegation was headed by
R A D M C. P. Murphy, Chief, Office of Merchant Marine
Safety, United States Coast Guard, with ADM Edwin J.
Roland, USCG (Rot.), former Commandant of the
Coast Guard, as Alternate Representative. The nine
advisers on the delegation were drawn from the Coast
Guard, Department of State, Maritime Administration,
American Institute of Merchant Shipping and its member
companies, and the Lake Carriers' Association.
Admiral Roland was elected President of the Confer-
once by acclamation after being nominated by the
United Kingdom, seconded by Liberia and supported by
the Union of Soviet, Socialist, Republics and Israel.
The committees structured by the conference were the
General Committee, Technical Committee, Drafting
Committee and the Credentials Committee. The United
States was represented on all committees but the Cre-
dentials Committee.
Early in the conference it was agreed that the Con-
vention should not embody the concept of dual tonnages
as related to the tonnage mark and that efforts should be
made to bring the values of gross and net tonnages as
obtained by the new system as close as possible ~o those
obtained under existing national systems.
Early decisions taken were:
(a) Tonnage should embody both gross and net values.
(b) Gross tonnage should be based primarily on
volume.
(c) Displacement should be used for the formula de-
termining net tonnage.
OCTOBER 1969
(d) The open shelter-deck concept should be retained
for existing ships.
(e) The open shelter-deck concept should be applied
to new ships.
(j') The open shelter-deck concept for new ships
should apply to net tonnages only.
(g) For new ships, changes from dosed to open shelter-
deck conditions should not be allowed at frequent inter-
vals.
Of these basle decisions (a), (b), (d) and (e) were con-
sistent with the adopted United States positions and
were supported by the United States delegation. The
remaining decisions, which were consistent with the
philosophies of the supporters of' Proposal C, were
adopted despite opposition by the United States, Japan,
Liberia, and Norway and other supporters of the Nor-
wegian ProposaI. The Soviet Union also opposed the
displacement parameter.
Computer studies carried out by the United States
delegation, using United States N a v y facilities in Lon-
don, quickly confirmed the earlier findings by the United
States that except, for the shelter-deck type ships, and
those having other large closed-in exempted spaces,
acceptable gross tonnages could be obtained by the
formula in Proposal C.
After extensive studies failed to produce a satisfactory
formuIa for net tonnage using displacement as the prin-
cipal parameter, it was decided to consider the formula
for net tonnage as proposed by the United States in
Proposal B and by Norway in its compromise proposal.
Further computer studies showed that the volume of
cargo space is superior to displacement as the principal
parameter for net, tom,age if the new values are to be as
close as possible to those obtained by existing systems.
Therefore, the cargo volume parameter was adopted.
Salient features of the adopted Convention are as
follows :
The gross tonnage is simply a logarithmic function of
all enclosed spaces of the ship. The formula is as
follows :
UT = K~V
where
V = tot'fl volume of all enclosed spaces of ship, eu m
K~ = 0.2 + 0.02 Iogl0V (or as shown in a table ap-
pended to the regulations)
The formula adopted for net tonnage is as follows:
/4d\ 2 ( N210
)
in which formula:
1 the factor (4d/3D) 2 shall not: be taken as greater
than unity
2 the term K2V~(4d/3D) 2 shall not be taken as less
than 0.2;5 GT
3 N T shall not be taken as less than 0.30 UT
357
a n d in which
Vc = total volume of' cargo spgmes, c u m
K2 = 0.2 q- 0.02 logl0V~ (or as shown in a table
appended to the regulations)
GT q- 10,000
Ka = 1 . 2 5
10,000
D = molded depth amidships, m
d = molded draft amidships, m (as defined in
the following)
N~ = number of passengers in e~d)ins with not,
more than 8 berths
Ne = number of other passengers
N1 q- N2 = total number of passengers ship is per-
mitted to carry as indicated in ship's
passenger certificate; when JV~ q- N2 is
less than 13, N, and N~ shall be taken
as zero
GT = gross tonnage of the ship as determined
in accordance with the foregoing
formula
The molded draft (d) shall be one of the following
drafts :
1 For ships to which the International Convention on
Load Lines in force applies, the draft corresponding to
the Summer Load Line (other than timber load lines)
assigned in accordance with that Convention.
2 For passenger ships, the draft corresponding to the
deepest subdivision load line assigned in accordance with
the International Convention for the Safety of Life at
Sea in force or other international agreement where
applicable.
3 For ships to which the International Convention on
Load Lines does not apply but which have been assigned
a load line in compfianee with nationM requirements, the
draft corresponding to the summer load line so assigned.
4 For ships to which no load line has been assigned
but the draft of which is restricted in compliance with
nationM requirements, the m a x i m u m permitted draft.
5 For other ships, 75 percent of the molded depth
amidships.
I t can be seen t h a t the net tonnage of a cargo ship with
accommodations for not more than 12 passengers is a
logarithmic function of the total w)lume of cargo spaces
modified by a function of the draft-to-depth ratio de-
signed to incorporate the shelter-deck concept, if
accommodations for more than 12 passengers are pro-
vided, the net tonnage should be increased by a function
of the number of passengers. I n no case should the net
tonnage be less t h a n 30 percent of the gross tonnage.
The tonnage for passenger accommodations was made a
function of the number of passengers in order to simplify
the regulations.
A table of the complete logarithmic coefficients for
volumes used in computing gross and net tonnage ranging
from ten cubic meters to one million cubic meters is
appended to the regulations.
358
Inasmuch as the coefficient (4d/3D) 2 in which the
draft-to-depth ratio (d/D) was adopted to provide for a
net tonnage adjustment for shelter-deck type ships, it
was not necessary to define "second deck." This wilI
make it possible to apply the shelter-deck concept, to
ships such as eontMnerships having high freeboards but
not having complete second decks, i t eLI, be seen that
with this approach no unusual structural arrangements
will be encouraged by the tommge measurement system.
Since only enclosed spaces are to be included in the
gross and net tonnages, it became necessary to define
excluded spaces. To t h a t end, regulations similar to
the P a n a m a Canal regulations for open spaces were
adopted.
A special regulation was written in order to comply
with the decision that, for new ships, changes from
dosed to open shelter-deck conditions should not be
allowed at frequent intervals. The regulation provided
that except in the ease of a ship transferred to the flag of
another state, a ship which undergoes major Mterations,
or a passenger ship used periodically to carry large num-
bers of unberthed passengers, the net tonnage m a y not be
reduced sooner than twelve months from the date of
issue of the current certificate even if there has been a
change of ownership of the vessel.
A comparatively simple tonnage certificate was de-
veloped reciting in addition to the gross and net tonnages :
1 Identification of the issuing authority.
2 Identification data of the ship, including the name,
distinctive number or letters, port of registry, date the
keel was laid, and the main dimensions.
3 Identification but not the tonnage of the spaces
included in and excluded from the gross I(mnage and
those included in the net tonnage.
4 N u m b e r of passengers.
5 Molded drM't.
6 Dates and places of original measurement and last
previous remeasurement..
The Convention will apply to new ships; existing
ships which are substantially altered; existing ships at
the owner's option; and all existing ships 12 years after
the Convention comes into force except, t h a t they m a y
retain their existing tonnages for the purpose of applica-
lion of pertinent requirements of other existing conven-
tions. The Convention does not apply to ships of war
and ships less than 79 ft long. The Convention does not
apply to ships solely navigating the Great Lakes and the
St. Lawrence River to Antieosti Island and to ships navi-
gating eertMn other waters in other parts of the world.
Provision is made for one contracting government to
issue a tonnage certificate at the request of another. The
Convention will come into force 24 months after the date
on which not, less than 25 governments of states, the
combined merchant fleets of which constitute not less
than 65 percent of the gross tonnage of the world's mer-
chant shipping, have signed without reservation as to
acceptance or deposited instruments of acceptance or
accession.
M A R I N E TECHNOLOGY
 The Convention and its Annexes may be amended
after unanimous acceptance by M1 contracting govern-
ments; M'ter consideration by the appropriate bodies of
IMCO; or by a conference convened for that purpose.
The Conference faced the difficult task of bringing to-
gether the originally divergent views of' the many eoun-
OCTOBER 1969
tries represented. The results are beIieved to be oil a
sound basis, where gross tonnage representing the size of
a ship depends directly on the totM enclosed volume, and
net tonnage representing the useful capacity of a ship
varies with the volume of cargo spaces and the number
of passengers.
359