Berthing&Unberthing.

Mooring
Ship handling operations include manoeuvring and controlling the vessel by means of engines, helm
movements and tug assistance. Berthing means bringing a vessel to her berth until the ship is made
fast. A ship may berth port or starboard side on or bow or stern on.
The term “berth” refers to the quay, or wharf, or, pier or jetty where the ship comes alongside, but it
may also mean a place in which a vessel is moored or anchored.
The berthing and unberthing manoeuvres require great knowledge and skill by the master, officers
and the crew, as well as an excellent team-work with the rope-runners and the mooring party
ashore.
A ship may berth port or starboard side to, with no wind or tide, with the tide ahead, with the wind
onshore or offshore. The master, the pilot and the tug skippers must have good local knowledge of
the tides, wind conditions, depths and aids to navigation, but they also have to take into
consideration the transverse and axial thrust of the propeller, how the ship responds to the rudder
and how much power she develops when running astern.
When approaching a berth, ships must proceed at slow speed. On deck, heaving lines and mooring
ropes, as well as fenders, should be ready for use.
The anchors must be ready to let go. At an appropriate distance from the berth the engine is stopped
and the ship's headway is used to bring her alongside the wharf. This headway should be just
enough to keep the ship moving ahead without losing steerage-way. If a ship has too much headway
it should be stopped by backing the ship with the engine or by letting the anchor go. When the
vessel approaches her designated berth at minimum steerage- way, the approach to the quay is
made at the smallest possible angle. With a heaving line the hawser is pulled from the vessel onto
the embankment by linehandlers. The spring is fastened to a bollard, and while the engine is on half
astern, the warping drum picks up the slack (that is: pulls the line tight).To prevent the line from
being fouled, the hawser or spring is led through a fairlead. The ship is then manoeuvred along the
embankment and fastened to bollards.
A ship is made fast to the quayside by mooring lines. They consist of a headline, a breast line and a
back spring forward, a stern line, a breast line and a back spring aft. Any of these lines may be
doubled. Each line has a large eye spliced in the end. The eye is placed over a bollard on the
quayside. If there is another line already on the bollard, the eye of the second line should be taken
up through the eye of the first line before placing it over the bollard. This makes it possible for either
line to be let go first.
After the ship is secured in her berth, rat-guards should be placed on all the lines. For permanent
moorings wire ropes are preferred to ordinary fibre ropes.
All the mooring lines should be constantly watched, as the change of weather or rise and fall of tide
can make the lines too taut or too slack and this will necessitate veering them in or out from time to
time. Nowadays there are automatic winches used for this purpose. In stormy weather the ships
secured in their berths usually have to double up fore and aft.
During berthing operations seamen must work with great caution.
Carelessness may cause serious injuries

Safety Precautions during Mooring

1. Don’t Allow Any Extra Crew Member on the Deck: Ensure that no extra personnel are present at
the mooring station except those who are involved in the operation. Anyone who is not assisting in
the mooring operation must be asked to leave the mooring station for his/her and other’s safety.

2. Consider Weather Condition: Before planning the mooring operation, consider the weather
condition by taking factors such as wind and current. The ship’s master and responsible officer must
have the details of current and future weather data before commencing the mooring operation.

3. Have knowledge of Snap Back Zone and Rope Bight: All personnel involved with the mooring
operation should be aware of the snap back zones and rope bight.
4. Check All the Mooring Equipment: Check all the equipment (mooring winch, drums, windlass etc.)
involved in the mooring operation for any kind of problem. Proper routine maintenance is the key to
ensure smooth running of mooring equipment and systems. Don’t forget to check the load sensors of
mooring winches.

5. Check the Tail of Mooring Line: If the mooring wire line is provided with tail (short lengths of
synthetic fiber rope which are placed in series with the vessel’s winch-mounted wires to decrease
mooring line stiffness and thus to reduce peak line loads and fatigue due to vessel motions) ensure
same size and material of tails are used for all lines in the same service (breast, spring and head
lines). Different tail size and material would lead to uneven load in the mooring line.

6. Tend One Line at a Time: Only one line should be tended at a time during mooring operation. If
this is not done, it may increase the load in the other tended lines. If two lines are tended together it
may lead to overloading and breakage. Follow the orders of the master or responsible ship officer
properly to avoid any kind of mishap.

7. Keep a Check on the Mooring Line Load: Ensure that the allowable breaking load in any of the
mooring lines does not increase 55% of its Maximum Breaking Load (MBL). This is to prevent the
line from breaking.

8. Avoid Mixed Mooring: Mixed mooring is extremely dangerous. Generally, mooring lines of the
same size and material should be used for all leads, if this is not possible due to the available
equipment, all lines in the same service, i.e. breast lines, spring lines, head lines and stern lines
should be of the same size and material. The use of mixed moorings comprising full length synthetic
ropes used in conjunction with wire should be avoided.  If a synthetic rope and a wire are used in the
same service the wire will carry almost the entire load while the synthetic rope carries practically
none.

9. Keep a Continuous Check: Load on the mooring lines must be checked continuously even after
the mooring operation is over. If there is any change in the ship’s ballast condition, the lines must be
slacked or tightened accordingly. The condition of the rope material should also be checked to
foresee unfortunate accidents.

10. Arrange Mooring Lines Symmetrical: All mooring line must be arranged as symmetrical as
possible with the breast line. The breast line should be perpendicular to the longitudinal centre line of
the ship and the spring line should be  parallel to the longitudinal centre line.

Mooring equipment
Deck officers must take extra precautions with eight of the most common mistakes involved with
deck machinery operations that are mentioned below:

1. Bow Thruster: The deck officers operating the bow thruster joy-stick must never increase the pitch
from minimum to maximum in one go. It can lead to sudden increase in current and damage the
motor as the BT system involves using high voltage and current. Also, maximum given pitch should
never exceed 90% and operation at higher pitch must not be continued for long duration of time.

2. Mooring Winch: When ship is berthed in the jetty, the berthing/securing operation of the ship is
performed by using mooring winches.  Avoid using the brakes of the winches in place of using
reduction gear to reduce or control the speed or else it will damage the brake lining of the drum.

3. Anchor Winch: Always use chain stopper when no operation is being performed and while
greasing the ship’s anchor parts. Never grease friction washer or brake lining as this will lead to
slippage of the anchor chain while stopping.

4. Deck Crane: All cranes comes with maximum safe working load capacity which is stenciled on the
crane body for ready reference. Still it’s observed that many deck crew members lift loads without
even checking the load of the lifting structure/body/ item.
5. Ballast system: Never start the ballast pump from the cargo control room without checking the
system valves and pump conditions from the local position in the engine room.

6. Hydro blaster: For the safety of ship’s personnel, a safety switch is provided on the hydro blaster.
This “Dead man’s switch/trigger” must never be taped, tied, or otherwise altered so that the
equipment stays in the “ON” position. Also, if the high pressure pipe is not handled properly, If the
lance is dropped it will whip about wildly, causing serious injuries.

7. Welding/ Gas cutting : The deck maintenance commonly involves “hot work” which requires using
welding machinery. Do check the insulation of welding cable and condition of the gas cables before
using them. Check the surrounding of the hot work area (near fuel tank vent, oil tank sounding pipe
etc.) before starting the job. Also ensure that the gas cutting piping system is equipped with flash
back arrester in the line before the gas bottles.

8. Fire System: The fire system of the ship is supplied with high capacity fire pumps which provide
water to the hydrants present in deck and engine room. These pumps are used for emergency
situations and thus should not be isolated at any time. However, don’t forget to isolate the fire pump
and the system when carrying out any kind of maintenance in the line. Also, after maintenance don’t
forget to close the drain of the fire line.