Abstract: Objective To address the applicability issues of traditional chimney structural strength verification methods caused by the combined effects of local loads and hull girder loads in the vicinity of the ship’s midsection, two novel methods for structural strength verification of chimneys located near the ship’s midsection are proposed.Methods Four methods were employed to evaluate the structural strength of the chimney area: the traditional method for aft-engine-room chimneys, which considers only local loads; the current method for mid-ship chimneys, which separately calculates local loads and hull girder loads and then superimposes the resulting stresses; a new method that considers all possible combinations of local and hull girder loads; and another new method that applies a simplified correction to the hull girder load under combined loading conditions. The results from these four methods were compared against those obtained from a full-ship finite element analysis. Results The results indicate that the traditional method, originally designed for aft-engine-room chimneys, is unsuitable for chimneys located near the ship’s midsection, yielding calculation errors exceeding 80% and producing overly conservative (dangerous) results. In contrast, the current method for mid-ship chimneys yields overly conservative results. By comparison, the two newly proposed methods demonstrate significantly closer agreement with the full-ship finite element analysis results. Conclusion Compared with traditional methods, the two newly proposed methods provide more accurate predictions. Although the current method for mid-ship chimneys remains usable, its overly conservative nature leads to unnecessary material waste.