EN
Service speed obtainable by a ship in real weather conditions when sailing on a given shipping route, is one of the major parameters which have great impact on ship operation costs. The so far used, very ap-proximate method of service speed prediction based on “service margin”, is very little exact. In this paper a new method based on additional ship resistance dependent on mean statistical parameters of wave and wind occurring on a given shipping route, is presented. The mean long-term service speed is calculated on the basis of the calculated additional resistance and the screw propeller and propulsion engine parameters. Also, a new definition of service margin and a way of its calculation is presented apart from the results ofthe mean service speed calculation depending on ship’s type and size and shipping route