Safe mooring
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Go to networkMooring operations continue to pose safety risks for mooring crew and shore personnel. We help you to review and verify the effectiveness of your vessels’ mooring system design as well as on-board mooring practices. We also provide support on vetting compliance and preparedness, and, most importantly, on safer mooring operations.
Receive effective support to improve your management on mooring:
DNV GL assists you in achieving better preparedness for compliance and safer operations, by utilizing our extensive experience on mooring system design criteria and mooring operational best practices.
Our Advisory team can provide:
- Pre-vetting and post-vetting technical support
- Assistance in MSMP preparation
- Define Ship Design MBL, backed by mooring calculations
- Review mooring practice on board and identify areas of improvements
- Supporting risk assessment by calculations and technical verifications
- Decision-making support for mooring line purchase
We have now launched Safe Mooring Connect, a digital tool which can be used as a common platform to prepare, manage and share data about ship mooring design and operation. Key functions of Safe Mooring Connect will be:
Ship Design MBL calculator & MSMP Part B reporting (live)
Site-specific mooring calculator and lay-up mooring calculator (coming Q4 2020)
Mooring line management records for daily operation (coming soon)
Safe Mooring Connect creates a single port of call for your mooring information management and will eventually facilitate collaboration among ship managers, crew, ports, inspectors, equipment makers and other stakeholders through a user managed sharing mechanism.
Why DNV GL wants to play a role in mooring operation?
The maritime industry has seen many incidents involving mooring failures over the decades, due to the high frequency of mooring operations and their high-level of human involvement.
“227 mooring related incidents reported in five years, 22% of these incidents resulted in injury.” – Australian Maritime Safety Authority
“97% of ships that had a mooring incident onboard during the last 24 months” – UK P&I Club reported in 2016
“From 1997 to 2013, 402 accidents were registered on Danish ships, with four fatalities and 43 injuries reported” – SOLAS SDC6
Facts such as these have led to an increased focus on the safety of mooring operations by the industry and regulatory bodies. DNV GL cares deeply about maritime safety and is dedicated to contributing to safer and smarter mooring operations.
What is new from regulations and guidelines?
Upcoming SOLAS amendments on safe mooring
Amendments to SOLAS regulation II-1/3-8 and new guidelines for safe mooring for all ships were approved at MSC.101 (2019) and will be adopted soon. When it enters into force, the new SOLAS regulation will require all new ships to comply with the revised regulations for appropriate and safe-to-use designs of mooring arrangements. All existing ships shall comply with the new regulations for the in-service inspection and maintenance regime of mooring equipment and lines as well as proper documentation.
OCIMF MEG4 for tankers and gas carriers
Mooring Equipment Guidelines 4th Edition (MEG4) introduced the Mooring System Management Plan (MSMP) and recommended all tankers and gas carriers to document Ship Design MBL. Increased focus is also put on human-centric design principles, a systematic approach to design and verification of mooring equipment, and a holistic application to managing mooring lines. MSMP, including Ship Design MBL, has been adopted to SIRE vetting regime in VIQ7 which is being checked during vetting inspections.
Improved guidance for other ship types is expected
Driven by economy of scale, many new designs have become bigger over the past decade. Taking such size increases in the container and cruise segment as an example, the new designs are pushing the limit of existing regulations and guidance for safe design as well as the mooring line selection. Driven by the GHG emission reduction initiative, shore power is becoming a more rigid need, especially for cruise ships, and closer management for mooring system design is strongly needed to facilitate the risk approach for such a switch. Due to all these reasons, the industry has also identified the need for improved guidance for mooring design and operation for other ship types.