Guide of Anchoring a Ship

Anchoring is as frequent operation on board as loading and unloading

a cargo.

The number of incidents related to anchoring never seem to reduce.

The truth is that even after being a routine operation, effective way
of anchoring is not a child’s play.

Let us discuss a practical way of anchoring.

But before we do that, we need to discuss two things. First how an

anchor holds the ship. And second what guarantees more holding
power of anchor.

1. How an anchor holds the ship

When an anchor is dropped, the crown of the anchor is the first to

hit the sea bottom.

It does not matter from what height the anchor is dropped, the crown
will always hit the bottom first. The flukes will only dig into the seabed
once the ship moves aft and flukes are facing downwards into the sea
bottom.

The opposite happens when we pick up the anchor. When the chain
is all picked up, the flukes face upwards and gets uprooted from the
bottom.
2. Holding Power of anchors

All other factors being common, there are three things that
affect holding power of anchors. First is the construction of
anchor, second nature of seabed and third the scope of the cable.

Holding power due to anchor construction

A ship’s Equipment number decides the weight of the anchor and
length of the chain.

The fluke area determines the holding power of the

anchor. International Association of Classification Societies
(IACS) governs the rules for anchors.
IACS enlist three types of anchors.

 Normal holding power anchors,

 high holding power anchors
 Super high holding power anchors.

Because of the high and super high holding powers, these anchors
can have a lesser weight than the normal anchors. This is because
the high holding design (Larger fluke area) compensate for the loss
of holding power due to lesser weight.

This is because the high holding design (Larger fluke area)

compensate for the loss of holding power due to lesser weight.


Holding power due to nature of Seabed

Another factor that affects the holding power of the anchors is nature
of seabed.

Sand is the strongest holding ground. Soft mud is the least holding
ground. This is because of obvious reasons.

Anchor embedded into soft mud would leave the bottom easily
compared to the harder surface like sand. Mariners must consider
nature of seabed to determine the possibility of dragging of the
anchor.


Holding power due to scope of the anchor cable

The correct scope is essential for safe anchoring and better holding
of the anchor. The scope is the ratio of the depth of the water to the
length of the cable deployed.  More the scope, better an anchor will
hold the ship. The idea of having more scope is that the angle of chain
with respect to sea bottom should be minimum.

More the angle, lesser the holding power. OCIMF has published a
graphical relation between this angle and holding power of anchor.


As a thumb rule, Scope of 6 is advisable for anchoring. That is when

anchoring into a depth of 20 meters, we should pay at least 120
meters of cable. When anchoring in areas of strong wind or current,
we should have a scope of more than 6, up to 10 sometimes.
There are two situations where the scope of 6 or more may not be
always possible.

 In congested anchorages like in Singapore and

 in deep water anchorages like Fujairah.

In congested anchorages, this is due to insufficient sea room and in

deep water anchorage due to insufficient cable length. In calm
weather, the lesser scope in these areas should not be a problem.

But if you expect wind force to increase, increased possibility of

anchor dragging should be part of the risk assessment.

 3. Preparing for Anchoring

Preparing the vessel for anchoring can start days before arrival. This
is when a Master checks the charts for marked anchorage areas days
before arrival.

Anchorage area for the vessel could also be suggested in the agent’s
pre-arrival message. In any case, the Anchorage area must be
physically checked in the chart to ensure that

 it is designated for the type of ship,

 the depths comply with the UKC requirement of the company

 depths are less than the maximum depth ship can anchor

 is clear of any cables, pipeline, wrecks or other obstructions. and

 the nature of seabed is appropriate for anchoring

When checking the charts for underwater obstructions, attention

should be paid to the chart symbol ‘#’.

This symbol means there is a foul ground and shall be avoided for
anchoring. I am particularly mentioning this chart symbol because
you may not miss a wreck but it is easier to miss this.
It is important to be aware of the ship’s windlass lifting capacity. In
any case, most of the ship’s windlass can lift the weight of the anchor
and about 3 shackles.

Vessels could easily anchor in depths of about 80 meters. If anchoring

in depths more than that, you might need to first check the windlass
capacity for the ship.

4. Anchor stations

Anchor stations should be ready forward well in advance. The anchor

party should make the inspection of the anchor windlass.

They should also ensure that the drive (Hydraulic power packs or
electric power) is running. The lashing of both the anchors should be
removed even if it is pre-decided about which anchor will be used.
It is a good practice to brief anchor party well in advance of some
information about anchoring such as

 The depth of water at the anchoring position

 Which anchor to use
 Anchoring method (Let go or walk back)
 The number of shackles the vessel will be brought up to.

5. Approaching the anchorage position

The most critical factor while approaching anchoring position is the

speed of the vessel. Engines must be ready and tested well in
advance and the speed of the vessel should be under control.

If Master feels the ship’s speed is much more than what it should be,
he should exercise zig-zag maneuver to reduce the speed.

Zig-zag maneuver (also called rudder cycling) is the most effective

way to reduce the ship’s speed over a shorter distance. While doing
rudder cycling,

While doing rudder cycling, the master must give due consideration
to the nearby ships and not run over other ships in the vicinity.

Apart from speed, the direction from which to approach the anchoring
position is important. The best approach heading is of heading into
the wind and tide. The heading of similar sized anchored vessels can
give
The best approach heading is of heading into the wind and tide. The
heading of similar sized anchored vessels can give a quite accurate
sense of the approach heading. If the traffic density, water

If the traffic density, water depth and sea room permit, it is better to
bring the vessel to this heading at least 1 mile from the anchoring
position.
Once on this heading, engine movements should ensure that vessel’s
speed is less than 2 knots about half a mile from the anchoring
position.

These are just referencing but useful figures. You should

consider vessel’s maneuvering characteristics, such as stopping
distances to amend these figures. Once the vessel is around

Once the vessel is around half a mile from the anchoring position, we
can give stern movement. This is to ensure that vessel is completely
stopped at the anchoring position and there is no headway in the
forward direction.

During Stern movement, the vessel would cant to starboard (for right
hand fixed pitch propellers).

If we are using the port anchor, this is good as this would ensure the
cable is clear of the vessel and will not lead across the bow.

But if starboard anchor is used, there is a chance of anchor chain

going under the bow or crossing the bow. In this case, before we give
stern movement, vessel’s rudder is put to hard port to get some port
swing.

The stern movement would check the port swing and the cable going
under the bow can be avoided.
Make sure to bring the rudder to midship during Stern movement.
Apart from lateral swing, stern movement of the vessel itself ensures
that the cable is clear of vessel’s hull.

However, in all cases, we must ensure that movement of the vessel

does not put excessive strain on the windlass. We will discuss this in
the next section.

6. Anchoring Methods

As we know, there are two ways an anchor can be dropped to the

seabed.

 By letting go
 by walking back.

Each of these ways has its advantages. And in most of the cases, it
is up to the discretion of master how he wants to anchor.

But there are certain conditions in which there are no options but to
choose a particular method.

Letting go an anchor

Would you agree that anchoring by letting go is easier of the two

methods? It is the most used method of anchoring too.

In this method, we open the windlass brake to let the anchor go

under gravity.
Before opening the brake, we must consider the height from which
we plan to drop the anchor.

If we don’t, we may damage the anchor. Depending upon the height,

the damage may not be visible in the same operation but will be
visible in the longer run.

There is another obvious risk of dropping the anchor from a height.

The anchor under its weight will continue to gain momentum until it
touches bottom. This momentum will increase

The anchor under its weight will continue to gain momentum until it
touches bottom. This momentum will increase

More the height, more momentum the anchor will gain. This
momentum may increase to a point where windlass break would not
be able to hold it.

The anchor’s momentum will only stop when the anchor along with
entire chain is in the bottom after it has been uprooted from the bitter
end. Watch out for this.

What is the referencing height then?

As a thumb rule, you should never allow the anchor to drop from a
height of 20 meters. That is, one must lower anchor to a level when
the distance between the bottom and the anchor is not more than 20
meters.
But that is a maximum figure. One must lower the anchor to as close
to the bottom as possible before it is let go.

But if you aim for lowering the anchor to say one meter above the
seabed, you may end up touching the anchor to seabed while the ship
still has some speed. That is not good.

So here is another rule of thumb. We should aim for lowering

the anchor to around half shackle from the bottom before we let go.

To summarize, here is how we should anchor the ship by letting go

 Approach the anchor position heading into wind and tide with
speed around 2 knots at 0.5NM from the position.
 Lower the anchor with gear to around half shackle off the bottom
and then hold the anchor on brake
 Give Stern movement to stop the vessel over the ground once the
vessel is in the anchoring position. if using starboard anchor, check
the starboard swing (for Right hand fixed pitch propellers) because
of Stern movement.
 When in position, drop the anchor by opening the brake
 maintain around 0.5 knots stern speed to allow the cable not to
pile up.
 Hold the break once required cable length is paid out.
Anchoring by walking back:

Walking back means lowering the anchor with gear.

The principle difference between walk back and let go methods is that
in the walk back we lower the anchor under power.

The advantage of this method is that cable would not run on its own.
So, there is no risk of damaging the anchor or windlass by dropping
from a height.

But there is another risk involved with this method. I earlier said that
in the “let go” method we should maintain around 0.5 knots astern
speed while we are paying the anchor chain.

But even if we exceed this speed to 1.0 knots, only the anchor will
pay off. There will not be any load on the windlass. Even when the
brake is on, and the chain stresses, windlass brake will be the first
thing to render.

But that is not the case with walk back method. In walk back method,
since we are lowering the anchor with windlass in gear, excessive
speed would surely damage the windlass.

We must not exceed the stern speed to more than the design speed
of the windlass.

Typically, the design speed of windlass is 9 meters/minute. That is

540 meters/hour (0.3 knots). So, we must not exceed the stern speed
to more than 0.3 knots while walking back the anchor.
7. Anchor brought up

Once we have lowered the required anchor length, and we have

disengaged the gear (in the case of the walk back), we then wait for
the anchor to be brought up.

The anchor is brought up when it leads to the long stay and then
gradually comes back to short to medium stay.

Once brought up, there is an important thing that we need to do. Put
the bar (Bow stopper) on and rest the anchor chain on it.

This is because the load generated by the vessel’s movement during

its stay at anchor should be borne by the bow stopper which has
higher capacity than the windlass system.

There is a disadvantage though. In heavy weather, there are chances

that stopper may jam or deform. In this case, if for some reason
vessel needs to let go the cable in the emergency, it would be difficult.

The only solution to it is that the Master must get underway before
putting any component of anchoring at the risk of damage. Most of
the companies have instructions to the masters to leave the
anchorage if wind force is more than force 6. There have been

Most of the companies have instructions to the masters to leave the

anchorage if wind force is more than force 6. There have been
There have been incidents of total constructive loss due to master’s
decision to stay at Anchorage in spite of adverse weather warnings.

Conclusion

Anchoring is a routine job. Number of incidents during anchoring or

while at anchor suggest that we might not have yet mastered the art
of anchoring a ship effectively.

Knowing the correct anchoring procedures and their limitations are

one of the best ways to avoid anchoring related fatalities and
damages.