Tag: mooring

The UK P&I Club has been advised of the risk of mooring accidents during Ship-to-Ship (STS) transhipments at Kavkaz port, Russia

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has won an order for substructure connection mooring systems for the world’s first floating offshore wind farm

Siport21 has presented the Methodology to Analyze the Moored Ship Behaviour Due to Passing Ships Effect

Special attention should be given to the mooring lines as they are coming off the dockThe USCG has issued Marine Safety Alert 12-15 on dockside safety issues to remind port authorities, marine terminal operators, line handlers, longshoreman and others associated with such activities to consider the associated risks.The maritime industry and specifically waterfront facilities can present some unusual hazards to those who perform the wide array and variety of work associated with the business of shipping.To illustrate that point, a pick-up truck was recently dragged into the harbor by a mooring line that was being hauled in by a ships mooring winch. The shore-side line handler that was using the truck to assist with the evolution narrowly escaped injury and possible death by quickly jumping out of the truck before it was dragged off the terminal.In this case, the ship was preparing to depart the port and the mooring line messenger was secured to the trucks tow hitch. It is a common shore gang line handling practice used in order to assist working with heavy mooring lines. When the line was thrown off the bollard, the ship began to haul it in with the messenger still attached to the truck.Line ...

Flood tide breaks mooring lines

STS Planning and Preparation - Fendering - Mooring - Unmooring The West of England P&I Club has issued Loss Prevention Safety Alert on STS Transfer Operations Incidents Resulting in Contact Damage to highlight the principal causes of recent incidents, and to focus on thesafeguards that should be considered to reduce the likelihood of contact damage during STS mooring and unmooring operations.The Club has experienced an increasing number of claims involving contact damage during ship to ship (STS) transfers, mainly during manoeuvring operations. Some of the incidents were serious. Following a claims review it appears that the majority of these cases took place in conditions that may have been unsuitable for the activity undertaken.Contributory factors generally included one or more of the following:Adverse weather conditions such as high winds, heavy seas, strong currents and/or tidal streams. In one case a daughter vessel, which was moored alongside an anchored mother vessel, made contact when trying to unmoor in a Force 8 wind. A significant number of other incidents occurred in winds of Force 6 or more.Lying beam on to a long swell while lightering a vessel which was partially aground. The swell increased during the operation, causing both vessels to roll up ...

 DNV GL has issued a new Recommended Practice (RP) DNVGL-RP-E305, to provide new industry guidance for achieving cost reductions of overall mooring operations, by addressing the engineering, manufacture, and integration of offshore fibre ropes.This new RP is the result of two DNV GL led joint industry projects (JIPs) and a JIP pre-study commissioned by Statoil .The offshore oil and gas industry uses synthetic fibre ropes across various mission-critical activities where performance and reliability are key concerns. These include mooring systems, lifting slings, and deepwater deployment and recovery systems for subsea infrastructure.  “Fibre ropes are increasingly used for offshore operations due to their high performance for a very low weight and because they can be easily customized. Their functionality is critical to ensuring successful offshore operations,” said Vidar Åhjem, principal engineer, DNV GL - Oil & Gas.“Performance-based selection of the mooring lines, lifting lines, slings and tethers, renders these offshore systems highly cost effective. Lifting lines are used for the installation of subsea infrastructure, where the offshore fibre rope performs as an integral part of a lifting appliance and where no function can be seen in isolation. The integrated system behaviour is also very important in offshore mooring. The RP is intended to serve owners, ...

Transport Malta has issued safety investigation report of cruise vessel Belvedere in which a crew member fell overboard during mooring operations resulting in loss of life at Handelskaje Quay in Vienna, November 2014.

Mooring operations are among the most dangerous tasks carried out on board ships AMSA has issued Safety Bulletin with a focus on mooring safety as mooring operations are among the most dangerous tasks carried out on board ships. Data collected by AMSA indicates that mooring incidents occur regularly and often result in injury. Furthermore, in the last 10 years, two fatalities have occurred during mooring operations in Australian waters.While there have been various innovations across the maritime industry to reduce the hazards associated with traditional mooring systems (see example of automated mooring technology below), the majority of vessels still rely on mooring arrangements involving ropes and winches. These systems have benefits, as they are flexible and enable berthing at most ports. However, the risks associated with operating traditional mooring systems continue to increase as vessels become larger.AMSA bulletin uses data to provide an overview of the factors associated with mooring incidents in Australia and provides some guidance to assist in improving safety.Mooring incident dataIn the last 5 years, AMSA received 227 mooring related incident reports. Fifty-one (22 per cent) of these incidents resulted in injury. There were no mooring related fatalities recorded during this period in Australia. However, mooring fatalities ...

Lessons learned The UK MAIB has issued Safety Bulletin regarding mooring line failure on board LNG carrier Zarga which resulted in serious injury.The accidentOn 2 March 2015, a deck officer on board the LNG tanker, Zarga, suffered severe head injuries when he was struck by a mooring line that parted during a berthing operation at the South Hook LNG terminal, Milford Haven. The officer, who was in charge of the vessel's forward mooring party, was airlifted to a specialist head injuries trauma unit for emergency surgery.Zarga was declared all fast alongside about 40 minutes prior to the accident and the attending tugs were let go. The vessel subsequently moved out of position in the gusty wind conditions during which time the mooring teams were fitting chafing guards to the lines. As the tugs had already been released, the master instructed the officer in charge (OIC) of the forward mooring party to tension the forward spring lines to warp Zarga back into the correct position. The OIC positioned himself aft of the forward springs' port-shoulder roller fairlead , and positioned a second crewman forward of him in order to relay his orders to the winch operator. As the winch operator attempted ...