Sustainable Marine Structures

Secure lashing and fixing of freight containers is a significant provision in structural integrity and in preventing loss of cargo during maritime transport. The classical model of container lashes is largely based on quasi-static assumptions as required by the international standards that are inclined to underestimate the actual dynamic forces due to ship motions, wave excitation and resonance effects. The disadvantages of these types of fixed design solutions have been proven in the recent incidents of huge container losses. This review provides a critical analysis of the analytical, numerical and experimental methods that are used in the evaluation of the standard freight container lashing systems. Particular attention is paid to finite element analysis (FEA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and multi-body dynamics (MBD) techniques that are applied to simulate realistic loading conditions. The recent advances in the multi-physics coupling, scaled-model experimental validation techniques, and full-scale experimental validation techniques, the new tendencies of machine-learning prediction of lashing forces, and digital twins of real-time monitoring are critically analysed. The key gaps in the study related to the dynamic load representation, regulatory constraints, and validation practices are outlined. This review is aimed at providing researchers and marine engineers with a systematic understanding of the existing methodologies and future trends in research on the improvement of safety and reliability of container lashing systems in real-life operation conditions.