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Making Fast and Casting Off safe practice for general cargo vessel
General guidance for mooring and un-mooring operations
During mooring and un-mooring operations a sufficient number of
personnel should always be available at each end of the vessel to ensure a
safe operation. A responsible officer should be in charge of each of the
mooring parties, and a suitable means of communication between the
responsible officers and the vessel's bridge team should be established. If this
should involve use of portable radio, then the ship should be clearly identified
by name to prevent misinterpretation. All personnel involved in such
operations should wear suitable protective clothing
Vessels' heaving lines should be constructed with a `monkey's fist' at
one end. To prevent personal injury, the `fist' should be made only with rope
and should not contain added weighting material.
Fig:Mooring arrangement
Areas where mooring operations are to be undertaken should be
clutter free as far as possible. Decks should have anti-slip surfaces provided by
fixed treads or anti-slip paint coating, and the whole working area should be
adequately lit for operations undertaken during periods of darkness.
All equipment used in mooring operations should be regularly
inspected for defects. Any defects found should be corrected as soon as
possible. Particular attention should be paid to the risk of oil leaks from
winches, and surfaces of fairleads, bollards, bitts and drum ends should be
clean and in good condition. Rollers and fairleads should turn smoothly and a
visual check be made that corrosion has not weakened them. Particular
attention is drawn to the need to ensure that pedestal roller fairleads, lead
bollards, mooring bitts etc. are
(a) properly designed to meet all foreseeable operational loads and
conditions,
(b) correctly sited, and
(c) effectively secured to a part of the ship's structure which is suitably
strengthened.
Mooring ropes, wires and stoppers that are to be used in the
operation should be in good condition, Ropes should be frequently inspected
for both external wear and wear between strands. Wires should be regularly
treated with suitable lubricants and inspected for
deterioration internally and broken strands externally. Splices in both ropes
and wires should be inspected regularly to check they are intact. Where wire
rope is joined to fibre rope, a thimble or other device should be inserted in
the eye of the fibre rope. Both wire and fibre rope should have the same
direction of lay.
Ropes and wires which are stowed on reels should not be used
directly from stowage, but should be run off and flaked out on deck in a clear
and safe manner, ensuring sufficient slack to cover all contingencies. If there is
doubt of the amount required, then the complete reel should be run off.
It is often difficult to achieve an ideal mooring layout. Ship's
equipment can be employed to the best advantage if the following general
principles are remembered:-
(a) breastlines provide the bulk of athwartships restraint;
(b) backsprings provide the largest proportion of the longitudinal restraint;
(c) very short lengths of line should be avoided when possible, as such
lines will take a greater proportion of the total load, when movement
of the ship occurs.
Careful thought should be given to the layout of moorings, so that
leads are those most suited without creating sharp angles, and ropes and
wires are not fed through the same leads or bollards. Pre-planning of such
operations is recommended and a risk assessment of the operation should
be completed, especially in cases where the ship is having to use an unusual
or non-standard mooring arrangement.
Personnel should not in any circumstances stand in a bight of rope
or wire. Operation of winches should preferably be undertaken by
competent personnel to ensure that excessive loads do not arise on
moorings.
When moorings are under strain all personnel in the vicinity should
remain in positions of safety, It is strongly
recommended that a bird's eye view of the mooring deck arrangement is
produced (an aerial view from a high point of the ship can be utilised) to
more readily identify danger areas. Immediate action should be taken to
reduce the load should any part of the system appear to be under excessive
strain. Care is needed so that ropes or wires will not jam when they come
under strain, so that if necessary they can quickly be slackened off.
Where a mooring line is led around a pedestal roller fairlead, the `Snap-Back'
Zone area will change and increase in area. Where possible, lines should NOT
be led round pedestals except during the operation of mooring the ship,
thereafter lines should be made up on bitts, clear of pedestals if at all possible.
Information on `Snap-Back' Zones can be found in section
6.3.5 of the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) publication
"Mooring Equipment Guidelines".
Fig: `Snap-Back' Zones
Where moorings are to be heaved on a drum end, one person
should be stationed at the drum end, backed up by a second person backing
and coiling down the slack. In most circumstances three turns on the drum
end are sufficient to undertake a successful operation. A wire on a drum end
should never be used as a check wire.
A wire should never be led across a fibre rope on a bollard. Wires
and ropes should be kept in separate fairleads or bollards.
When stoppering off moorings the following applies:-
(a) Natural fibre rope should be stoppered with natural fibre.
(b) Man made fibre rope should be stoppered with man made fibre stopper
(but not polyamide).
(c) The `West Country' method (double and reverse stoppering) is
preferable for ropes.
(d) Wire moorings should be stoppered with chain, using two half hitches in
the form of a cow hitch, suitably spaced with the tail backed up against
the lay of wire, to ensure that the chain neither jams nor opens up the
lay of the wire.
Mooring to bouy
During mooring and un-mooring operations a sufficient number of
personnel should always be available at each end of the vessel to ensure a
safe operation. A responsible officer should be in charge of each of the
mooring parties, and a suitable means of communication between the
responsible officers and the vessel's bridge team should be established. If this
should involve use of portable radio, then the ship should be clearly identified
by name to prevent misinterpretation. All personnel involved in such
operations should wear suitable protective clothing .
Where mooring to buoys is undertaken from a ship's launch or
boat, personnel engaged in the operation should wear lifejackets and a
lifebuoy with attached lifeline should be kept readily available in the boat.
Fig:Mooring arrangement
Means should be provided to enable a person who has fallen into
the water to climb back on board the launch or boat. If a boarding ladder
with flexible sides is used, it should be weighted so that the lower rungs
remain below the surface.
Where mooring to buoys is undertaken from the ship, a lifebuoy
with attached line of sufficient length should be available for immediate use.
When slip wires are used for mooring to buoys or dolphins, the
eyes of the wires should never be put over the bitts, as at the time of un-
mooring it may not be possible to release the load sufficiently to lift the eye
clear. To prevent accidental slippage of the wire eye(s) over the bitts or
other obstruction the eyes should be seized, partially closing the eye.
Towing - Making fast tugs towline
A number of accidents to persons have occurred during the
relatively simple operation of making fast and letting go of tug's tow lines.
The common factor was that, for various reasons, the tow lines became taut,
causing, for instance, messengers to part and strike ship's crew, and seamens'
hands to become trapped, all of which resulted in major injuries.
Equipment used for towing should be adequately maintained and
inspected before use, as during towing operations excessive loads may be
applied to ropes, wires, fairleads, bitts and connections.
Prior to towing operations being undertaken, the master should
establish suitable means of communication, exchange relevant information
(eg speed of vessel), and agree a plan for the tow with the tug master.
All workers involved should be adequately briefed in their duties
and safety precautions to be taken. They should be equipped with personal
protective equipment including safety helmets and safety shoes.
Fig:Mooring arrangement
Workers should, wherever possible, agree with the tug crew the
area where the heaving line is to be thrown to, in order that they move
clear. A messenger should be used to heave the tug's tow line on board by a
winch, and then a stopper used while the eye is placed around the bollard.
Only enough turns of the messenger should be used on the warping drum
end to heave in the tow line. On tankers, do not place the tow line's eye
over the bollard which has the fire wire made fast to it. Take the fire wire off,
if there is no bollard available.
Once the tow is connected, non-essential personnel should keep
clear of the operational area. If anyone is required to remain in this area or
to attend to towing gear during the towing operation, they should take
extreme care to keep clear of bights of wire or rope and the "Snap-Back"
Zone should a line break. Exposure time should be kept to a minimum.
During operations, communications should be maintained
between:-
(a) the towing vessel and both the bridge team and the foredeck of the
vessel under tow; and
(b) the tow party and the bridge team.
In all communications clear identification of the parties communicating
should be used to prevent misunderstandings. The Tug Master should be
kept informed of engine movements, proposed use of thrusts etc. Persons
in charge of the mooring party should monitor the tow line to give warning
to the crew if the tow line should become taut, for whatever reason.
When letting go the tow, no attempt should be made to heave in
the tow line slack before making positive communications with the tug's
crew and they have indicated that they are ready to receive their line. Use
the tug's attached messenger to heave in the slack and then stopper it off
before taking the eye off the bollard. Use turns of the messenger around
the bollard to control the speed at which the tow line goes out
and is retrieved on board the tug. If the tow line is allowed to run
out uncontrolled, it could whiplash, and strike a crewmember,
causing severe injuries.
Further recommendations on towing are contained in
Merchant Shipping Notices.
Other useful articles :
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Ropes are made of short fibres that are spun into yarns,
which are then made into flat or twisted strands.
And the strands are spun or braided to make the finished
rope .
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Synthetic man-made ropes and hawsers
Although natural fibre ropes are still widely used throughout the marine industry, they have been superseded by synthetic fibres for a great many
purposes. Not only do the majority of synthetic ropes have greater strength
than their natural fibre counterparts, but they are more easily obtainable
and at present considerably cheaper.
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Natural fibre rope
All natural fibre rope is manufactured from manilla, sisal, hemp, coir, cotton
or flax fibres.The process of manufacture consists of twisting the fibres
into yarns and turning the yarns in an opposite direction to establish the
strands.
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Washing is always carried out after the compartment has been swept. Drying time for washed compartments must be allowed for, before loading the next cargo; this time will vary with the climate, but two to three days must be expected.
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The vessel's structure, crane, derrick or other lifting device and the supporting structure should be of sufficient strength to withstand the loads
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Prior approaching an area for anchoring ships master should investigate fully a suitable anchoring position and conduct a planned approach including speed reduction in ample time and orienting the ships head prior anchoring to same as similar sized vessels around or stem the tide or wind whichever is stronger . Final decision to be made on method of anchoring to be used , the number of shackles , the depth of water, expected weather and holding ground. .
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- MacGregor single-pull weather-deck hatch cover
Hatch covers are used to close off the hatch opening and make it
watertight. Wooden hatch covers, consisting of beams and boards over
the opening and covered with tarpaulins, were once used but are no
longer fitted. Steel hatch covers, comprising a number of linked steel
covers, are now fitted universally. Various designs exist for particular
applications, but most offer simple and quick opening and closing,
which speed up the cargo handling operation..
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- Cargo holds access arrangement
The access shall be separate from the hatchway opening, and shall be by a stairway if possible. A fixed ladder, or a line of fixed rungs, shall have no point where they fill a reverse slope
.
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Lay of Ropes and hawsers - Small Stuff descriptions
The lay of rope is a term used to describe the nature of the twist that produces the complete rope .The most common form of rope at sea is known as ‘hawser laid rope’ comprising three strands laid up right- or lefthanded.
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- Stresses in ship structures and how to mitigate
Heavy weights tend to cause a downward deflection of the deck area supporting the load .This subsequently produces stresses, with
consequent inward and outward deflections of supporting bulkheads,
depending on the position of initial loading .
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- Lifting appliances - Maintenance, testing, controls & safety measures
When there is any suspicion that any appliance or item of
equipment may have been subjected to excessive loads, exceeding the Safe
Working Load (SWL), or subjected to treatment likely to cause damage, it
should be taken out of service until it can be subjected to a thorough
examination by a competent person.
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- Safe operation of Lifting appliances and gears
All lifting operations must be properly planned, appropriately
supervised and carried out to protect the safety of workers.
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