Anchorage Management and Selection
How anchorages are designated and allocated, swinging circle calculation, depth and holding ground assessment, and congestion at major waiting areas.
Choosing where to anchor is a planning decision made before the ship arrives, and SOLAS regulation V/34 brings it inside the passage plan by requiring the intended voyage to be planned with sufficient sea room, known navigational hazards, adverse weather and the applicable marine environmental protection measures taken into account.
The full article will cover the assessment a berth requires: charted depth across the whole swinging circle rather than at the drop position alone, holding ground and its recorded quality, the tidal range and the resulting scope, proximity to other anchored ships and to shoal water, and the escape route if the weather turns. It will cover how the swinging circle is computed from cable veered, water depth and ship length.
It will also cover how anchorages are designated and allocated by port authorities, the waiting-room economics that concentrate large numbers of ships in a few areas, and the growing constraint that environmental designations place on where a ship may lie.