Widening Study of a 45-Meter Tuna Fishing Vessel Based on Multi-Objective Optimization

Stability issues in fishing vessels represent a significant risk to maritime safety, despite advances in stability regulations by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). This paper presents a multi-objective optimization study focused on the widening of a 45.1-meter tuna fishing vessel to improve stability by increasing its beam. The optimization was developed based on the IMO’s Second Generation Stability Criteria (SGSC), evaluating the vessel’s critical failure modes. The Non-Linear Generalized Reduced Gradient (GRG) method method was applied to obtain a balanced solution that improves stability and increases cargo capacity while maintaining operational safety. The vessel's improved performance was validated under operational conditions, demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed modifications.