In order to satisfy the buckling strength criteria prescribed in the classification society's rules, the carling structure is often adopted in the sheer strake, rather than the increase of the plate thickness, in the ship of transverse framing system. The main purpose of the carling is to prevent buckling of the plate in the sheer strake : however, the initiation of fatigue crack may sometimes be expected due to the stress concentration near the tip of the carling, because the bending stress caused by waves are significant in this region. In the present paper, the effect of the carling arrangement upon the fatigue strength of a chip carrier is investigated. Three types of carling arrangement and two kinds of thickness increase of the plate are taken into consideration in the study. It was found from the investigation that the worst carling arrangement is the snip-type in the view of fatigue strength. and the lug-type is recommended as the carling arrangement in the sheer strake. The increase of plate thickness in the sheer strake may not be efficient to prevent the fatigue crack from the viewpoint of production cost.