The Onboard Loading Program has been developed by Wolfson Unit (University of Southampton) in conjunction with serving bridge officers in order to allow rapid entry of data and calculation of stability. It is the first Onboard Loading program to be approved by the United Kingdom Dept. of Transport's Maritime & Coastguard Agency which performs all of its calculations directly from the hull form. It enables the operator to select and edit loaded condition information, and to compute sailing state and stability information in that condition, which may be used as the ship's official record at the time of departure.

The program is supplied with data files, which define the vessel's geometric shape and loaded conditions, including capacity data for all of the tanks. The additional Onboard Damage Program allows rapid computation of stability after damage. Within each damaged zone individual compartments or tanks may be set either to be intact or damaged. Where a compartment is damaged which had a fluid content that fluid content is deducted from the overall displacement before a calculation is performed.

The program also allows the effects of accumulated fire fighting water on deck to be assessed. Large spaces in the vessel are modeled, and a mean water level on deck entered.