Introduction Safety and reliable design of ships require risk analysis of their behaviour in the ocean environment. Whereas the probabilistic determination of the wave effects on ships is weIl established, the assessment of severe wind loads is still deterministic. For instance, in the International Maritime Oganisation (IMO) code on intact stability [6] a bulk wind pressure of 504 Pa is assumed for the stability relevant wind heeling moment on passenger and cargo ships 24 m in length and over. Trailing back the wind speed, this value is based on a beam-wind of about 28 mjs, corresponding to Beaufort 10 to 11. A first attempt to take into consideration the random characteristics of the ocean winds was made by the author [4, 5]. In this text the long-term wind loads on five ships, representing typical ship forms, are investigated using wind tunnel test results [2]. The five ships are: car carrier (CAR), container vessel (CON), destroyer (DES), passengerjcar ferry (FER), and speed boat (SPE). Finally a probabilistic criterion for wind heeling levers is proposed.weiterlesen