Automated Mooring Systems
Vacuum and magnetic shore mooring units and shore tension systems: how they hold a ship, their effect on fender demand, and the OCIMF due diligence route.
An automated mooring system holds a ship against a berth with shore-mounted vacuum or magnetic units, or with powered constant-tension devices, instead of with conventional lines run to bollards. A vessel can be secured in well under a minute and no one has to be on the mooring deck to do it.
The full article will cover the vacuum pad and magnetic unit types, their holding capacity and how it is assessed against the restraint the ship actually needs, shore tension systems used alongside conventional lines, and the response to power failure. It will cover the OCIMF due diligence process for alternative mooring technology and the IMO position that alternative means of mooring are a recognised route to removing personnel from the hazard.
The interaction with fendering is the part berth designers care about and the part most often overlooked. A system that holds the ship hard against the fender line changes the sustained load the fender carries, and constant-tension arrangements combined with the right fender type have been shown to raise the long-wave threshold at which a berth stays workable.