Modern ship types are developing rapidly. Consequently, the experience gained by a crew on a certain ship does not necessarily apply to another vessel, even to vessels of the same ship type.

Situations have been reported where vessels have entered dangerous situations without any warning. With today's modern ship types, the captain and his crew can be faced with 'new' phenomena like parametric excitation and pure loss of stability. Generally, guidance on how to identify such problems and resonance is not available or appropriate, mainly due to the highly non-linear roll motion and lack of development (i.e. the means to use the theoretical knowledge for practical application). Also phenomena like slamming and excessive vertical accelerations at the bow are not simple to detect on large modern ships.

Recent data proves that commercial losses and loss of life can potentially be reduced by introducing this kind of decision support system. Losses pertinent to the motion of ships in heavy seas recorded from April 2005 until March 2006 are 43 lives and an estimated € 100 million. (Source: www.janmaat.de).