Mooring buoy or Muitibuoy, although there are many variations, it is a particular type of mooring that use a buoy or the buoys as direct support.
Different types of vessels use the mooring buoy; from small ships or big ships, from Tanker to cruise ships.
The basic layout of a mooring with a buoy is shown in the picture below.
The ship is moored in position using both anchors forward and with the stern secured to buoys located around the stern.
This is how a mooring buoy looks like.
The mooring buoy operation is complicated and requires a great understanding of the ship’s mooring equipment.
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EXAMPLE MOORING BUOY BY A SHIP
- Step 1. The ship proceeds to a line almost perpendicular to the intentioned moor.
- Step 2. When decided by the captain, the starboard anchor is let ‘go, and the cable is run out while the ship is running ahead, the engine is operating astern.
- Step 3. As soon the ship is stopped by the force of the starboard anchor, the port anchor is let go.
- Step 4. The ship is controlled with the use of the engine and helm.
- Step 5. The port cable is paying out while heaving on the starboard cable.
- Step 6. Mooring lines starting to let’s go on the buoys as quickly as possible to assist and control the swing into the berth.
CONSIDERATION OF MOORING EQUIPMENT DURING A MOORING BUOY
During this type of mooring, the loads on the ships equipment are considered higher.
It is recommended to use only lines on the drums.
Before starting a mooring buoy operation, all the equipment should be checked, and only quality lines must be used.
SINGLE POINT MOORING BUOY
A single point mooring buoy is particularly suited to the handling of large tankers at offshore locations.
The Tanker is moored to a single buoy by one or two hawsers.
The buoy is moored to the seabed by one or more anchor lets.
This moor type is important because the ship can transfer the cargo between the Tanker and the seabed pipeline.
MOORING BUOY DESIGN
The buoy used for this mooring is moored to the seabed, usually by six or eright anchor chains.
A floating hose system is a connected throw the manifold of the ship
The mooring buoys can be fixed or turnable to the body as shown in the figure below.
Conclusion
In this article, we saw the different types of mooring buoys, starting from the use of the buoys for usually ferry or cruise ship and finishing to tanker ships.
FAQ
Is the mooring buoy used by cruise ship?
Yes, the cruises ship use the mooring buoys on Norway inside some fjord. As an example of operation, you can see the first part of the article.
Is the mooring buoy safe?
Yes and not, If we consider the first type of mooring used by cruise ships or ferry, in case of strong this type of moor, not give the best safety.
On the other hand, for the Tanker moored to the buoy, we can say that it is safer, considering that these buoys are unique designs and placed to fight against strong environmental conditions and big vessel size.
Read: how to anchor a boat.