⎯ Ship structures consisting of stiffened plates are subjected to several loading conditions during service, which can lead to buckling. As a result of panel buckling, the overall strength of the ship hull girder is reduced, which is what determines the ultimate strength of the hull girder. The ultimate strength analysis can be accomplished with finite element (FE) simulation, but detailed modeling can be time-consuming. Due to these reasons, it is more advantageous and costeffective to replace the three-dimensional (3D) stiffened panel model with a two-dimensional (2D) equivalent single layer (ESL) plate. This shift from 3D to 2D is premised on the ESL accuracy in describing the various buckling modes of stiffened panels, which are determined by panel topology and boundary conditions. Therefore, the performance of a stiffened panel represented by an equivalent single layer plate (ESL) is evaluated in different modes of buckling. Considering that ESL is asymmetric in nature, the buckling modes of stiffened panels are significantly affected by any modification to their geometry. In this paper, we are concerned with two modes of buckling: (i) plate and web stiffeners buckle locally, and (ii) buckling of the stiffeners due to lateral-torsional forces. According to the results, ESL is capable of accurately predicting the effect of local buckling in combination of biaxial compression and lateral pressure.