Abstract
Aluminum ferries in the United States are unique in that they have policy requirements limiting the weight of luggage carried per fixed passenger seat, which is accomplished by controlling the weight of baggage per passenger, but no means to enforce this requirement. A survey of passenger ferry vessels was performed to determine the type of baggage loading present in these passenger compartments. The type, carriage rate, and weight were recorded to determine the transient fire load as well as the average weight of luggage brought on board. The average baggage weight for the commuter vs. non-commuter ferries surveyed in this study were found to be 2.8 and 3.7 kg per person, respectively. These numbers are in close agreement with the average weight per person calculated for carriage on trains. Survey data indicates that the current average baggage weight of 3.7 kg exceeds that allowed by Coast Guard policy for 93% of vessels, with the remaining 7% falling within the policy requirements due to unusually low seat density in the main passenger compartment. This highlights a potential pitfall in current regulatory standards that may present a mismatch for performance and prescriptive based requirements. As few baggage surveys have been conducted on commuter vessels, this data which includes both number and weight distributions per baggage type may also be useful for transient fire load calculations in the future.
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