1. Mooring of ships - forces
Course no. 1

2. Purpose of mooring To bring the ship alongside
To keep the ship alongside
To assist the ship when un-mooring

3. Design criteria of mooring configurations
Based on the forces acting upon the ship
Wind
Current
Waves
Swell
Other ships passing by (suction effect)
Location of the berth – Protected or sea berth
Types of ship – size, displacement, draught etc.

4. Example: Mooring of VLCC’s
Often moored outside the harbours along sea berths
Forces are so great that no winch is capable of bringing the ship alongside
Tugs are always used when mooring and leaving berth
The only criteria is the holding force of the winches
The ship must be maintained in position related to the shore manifold (chiksans)

5. Mooring winch with undivided drum

6. Mooring winches – Divided drum-polyprop octopus

7. Chicksan

8. Chicksan
One of the biggest problems with the fixed loading/discharging systems is the restricted liberty of movement of the ship
If one of the limits is breached => ESD-system activated

9. Different materials for ropes
Different configurations
All steel wire ropes (equipped or not equipped with tails)
All ropes are synthetic
Mixed systems (synthetic + steel wire rope)
New materials

10. Steel wire rope + tail
Purpose of the tail is to add elasticity to account for change in tidal heights
To protect against chafing cover splice of the tail with leather or plastic
The tail is connected to the steel wire rope by means of a Tonsberg shackle or a Mandal shackle
In case of frequent use tails are changed every 18 months

11. Tonsberg shackles
Mandal Shackle

12. Synthetic mooring Biggest problem is elasticity
It can give an important « sway » (balancer) to the ship (breaking out)
3 mooring ropes – different materials – same length (50 m), MBL and load
Steel wire – 0.3m elongation
Polyprop – 5m elongation
Nylon – 8 m elongation

13. Synthetic mooring A side effect is sagging The « sag » is function of:
 m-n
Weight of the mooring line
Tension in the line
Water depth (suction effect)

14. Shallow Water Effects

15. Squat effect

16. Mixed mooring systems Mix of wire ropes and synthetic ropes
Certainly NOT the best configuration but the most common one.
If possible use steel wire rope as springs and breasts and use synthetic ropes as head- and stern line

17. New materials Composite materials
Expensive but excellent mooring system
Kevlar –Aramid ropes are very strong, light and show little sagging. They react fast in case of breaking out of the ship.

18. Two mooring lines using the same bollard

19. Efficient mooring
The efficiency of a mooring rope depends on the following factors
Material (steel wire or synthetic – elongation & MBL)
Length
Angles
in the horizontal plane
in the vertical plane

20. Function of the different ropes
Head- and stern lines & the springs are stabilising the ship alongside
Breast line will prevent the ship to break free from the berth
Breast lines must be as perpendicular as possible to the ships longitudinal axis
Springs must be as parallel as possible to the berth

21. Recommendations The function of springs and breast lines is clear.
Springs are preventing longitudinal movement, while
Breast are opposing transversal movements.
The function of head and the stern lines depends on their angle with the longitudinal axis.
Great angle => they serve mainly as breast line while
Small angle => stopping longitudinal movement

22. The ideal configuration will rarely be achieved.
To obtain a perfect mooring configuration their must be a perfect harmony between the ships equipment , disposition on board and the configuration ashore
Berthing ships is always a matter of compromises

23. Following recommendations have been published by the OCIMF = Oil Company International Maritime Forum
The recommendations are valid for a tanker moored alongside a T-berth

24. Recommendations based on OCIMF – Effective mooring
The horizontal angles of head-, stern- and breast lines < 15°

25. Mooring Dolphin

26. Recommendations based on OCIMF – Effective mooring
The vertical angle with the horizontal plane must be < 25°
The effective force is proportional to the cosine of the angle
If the angle is 25° the line is effective for 91%
If the angle is 45° the efficiency is reduced to 71%
=> Springs & breasts must be long enough and not to steep

27. Springs & Breasts

28. Recommendations based on OCIMF – Effective mooring
Breast lines are most effective is  on the longitudinal axis.
If  is 45° we have to increase the force in the breast line till 141 ton to obtain an effective transversal force of 100 ton

29. Recommendations based on OCIMF – Effective mooring
Springs offer the greatest holding power in the longitudinal direction. Their length is  60 meters

30. Recommendations based on OCIMF – Effective mooring
The impact of the head and the stern lines on the total holding power of the mooring configuration is less important than the influence of springs and breasts. This mainly because these lines are too long.
Never the less they are important to compensate the dynamical forces.

31. Recommendations based on OCIMF – Effective mooring
Very short lines must be avoided. They always take the most important part of the load, especially when the ship is moving
Short length = important vertical angle

32. Short breast lines
Long breast line: 52ton load is sufficient to obtain an effective holding power of 50 ton
Short breast line: Load has to be increased till 88 ton to obtain same result

33. Recommendations based on OCIMF – Effective mooring
All the mooring ropes in the same group (working in the same direction) must have the same tension.
If not, the weakest line will break first. Total load will have to be received by the remaining lines => increased risk of breaking (chain reaction)
Groups are aft spring + head lines, Stern lines + forward spring, breast lines

34. Recommendations based on OCIMF – Effective mooring
Their must be an equilibrium between the 4 groups: head- and stern lines, springs and breasts.
Optimal mooring configuration is determined after studying the static and dynamical forces for a specific berth.
Example: Proposed configuration (Direction of the wind: 110°)
4 breast lines (aft) + 1 stern line
3 headlines + 3 breast lines (fore)

35. Recommendations based on OCIMF – Effective mooring
The number of lines is function of the size of the ship and the prevailing weather conditions
A – Panamax ( dwt) lines (2 headlines – 4 breasts – 4 springs – 2 stern lines: 2 –2 – 2 fore and aft)
B – VLCC ( dwt) 16 lines (4 headlines – 4 breasts – 4 springs – 4 stern lines: 4 –2 – 2 fore and aft)

36. Mooring configurations bulk carriers
Cape Size: 4 –2 – 2 (fore and aft)
Panamamax: 4 –1– 1 (fore and aft)
Handy Size: 4 –1 (fore and aft)
Mini Bulker: 3 –1 (fore and aft)
Mini Bulker – moored so it can shift forward and backwards during loading/discharging

37. Mooring configurations bulk carriers

38. Recommendations based on OCIMF – Effective mooring
Mooring lines must be passed ashore using the deck fittings (fairleads) because of friction and the curvature relation.
Curvature relation =  curvature deck fitting/  mooring line

39. Mooring of ship - TVS 1ste kan

40. Deck fittings

41. OCIMF equipment: Panama hawse- hole Pedestal Fairleads (Chaumard)

42. Info
Suez & Panama Canal

43. Suez Canal Total length is 190.25 km Water surface width is 280.345 m
Width between the buoys is m
Canal depth is 22.5 m
Maximum ship draught allowed is 62ft
Speed allowed for loaded carriers is 13 km/h
Speed allowed for unloaded carriers is 14 km/h.
Average transit time is 14 hours

44. Suez Canal

45. Panama Canal The Panama Canal is approximately 80 kilometers.
The Canal uses a system of locks
The locks function as water lifts: they raise ships from sea level (the Pacific or the Atlantic) to the level of Gatun Lake (26 meters above sea level)

46. Panama Canal
Each set of locks bears the name of the townsite where it was built: Gatun (on the Atlantic side), and Pedro Miguel and Miraflores (on the Pacific side).
The maximum dimensions of ships that can transit the Canal are: 32.3 meters in beam; draft 12 meters in Tropical Fresh Water; and meters long
The narrowest portion of the Canal is Culebra Cut

47. Panama Canal

48. Gatun Lock

49. Gaillard Cut

50. Pedro Miguel Locks

51. Mira Flores Locks

52. 4-roller fear lead Towing Bracket

53. Smit Towing Bracket

54. Chocks and buttons

55. Bits and Bollards

56. Panama chocks

57. Roller Chocks

58. Roller Fairleads

59. Towing pads (point d’attache pour le câble de remorque)

60. Mooring alongside a classic berth (quay)

61. Mooring alongside a classic berth (quay)

62. Mooring alongside a T-berth

63. Mooring with 2 anchors

64. Ship to ship

65. SPM – Single Point Mooring Buoy

66. SPM - buoy

67. SPM - buoy

68. FPSO – single point mooring

69. FSO - operations

70. STL – Submerged Turret Loading

71. STP – Submerged Turret Production

72. STP – Submerged Turret Production