Ship Handling

The aims and objectives of the present anchor handling course developed by Maersk is to promote the safest and most efficient ways of performing anchor handling operations by means of enhancing the knowledge and skills of the bridge teams.

The material include abbreviations used during the course, introductory part, calculations, examples of anchor deployment, various anchor handling equipment explained in detail, ship handling and maneuvering techniques, drilling unit operations and many more.

Taking into account that the main content was prepared by the Maersk specialists, we would highly recommend this training to all people directly engaged in planning or actual performance of the anchoring operations offshore.

When vessels are assisted by tugs, the experience and teamwork, communication and above all insight into the capabilities and limitations of ships and attending tugs are considered essential for the safe and efficient shiphandling. This first of all applies to the captain and crew of the tug plus to the master of the vessel and pilot, especially today when older tugs are replaced by new tugs of modern types featuring much larger engine powers and significantly increased capabilities.

Reputable shipyards build good tugs, and designers can predict how well their tugs will perform. However, they do not handle ships themselves and have not experienced the tug assistance required: not in a river, channel or port approach nor in a confined harbor basin, not during a storm or in strong currents nor in the middle of a foggy night. Not even during nice, calm weather. These are the situations and conditions in which pilots and tug captains have to handle ships.

So it is essential that they know what can be expected from a tug in any specific circumstance. Only when these professionals are fully aware of the capabilities and limitations of the various types of tugs in general and of an individual tug, including the effects on an assisted ship, are they able to utilize tugs in the safest and most effective way and in harmony with a ship's maneuvering devices

If you want to get a clear understanding of all possibilities of the big oil tankers as well as of all limitations imposed on them, you should definitely have a chance to try them out with no risk. And the Shiphandling Training Center located at Port Reve, in France will provide you with such a brilliant opportunity.

This is a place where a whole fleet of model tankers scaled 1:25 is being operated on a lake. It should be noted, however, that not only do vessel models offer this chance of handling scale replicas of the huge tankers under various conditions; the center also offers quite instructive overall view on the different maneuvers in a protracted time.

As a result, there is a lot of shiphandling operations conducted in this miniature world in a relatively short time, is five times faster than they would be in real life conditions. While the author of this book was observing the maneuvers on the lake analyzing them, it became quite clear to him that the positions of the pivot point plays a critically important role in explaining the vessel's behavior.

The experienced seaman and ship designer know just what the sea at its worst can do to the structure of a ship. Overwhelmed by the sea is a warning to both seafarer and architect that such unforgiving force must never be underestimated, and may not yet be fully understood. Let us look at a large cargo ship on a winter passage across the North Atlantic from Europe to North America.

Her Master will have received regular weather reports and will have plotted his route in an effort to minimize the effects of heavy weather, but such is the depth and frequency of the giant depressions that remorselessly track across the Western Ocean in winter, that it is unlikely that he can avoid their effects entirely. Sooner or later the ship will find itself laboring against the worst that nature can throw at it.

It is on such occasions that the complex structure of steel and systems which make up the modern ship will be tested to the limit. While the Master can adjust his speed and course to minimize the effects of the storm, his job is to get to his port of destination without too much delay, balancing the risk of damage against the cost of a late arrival, trusting in his skill as a ship handler and the strength of his ship.

It is quite clear that any activities taking place in adverse weather conditions, especially in ice, imply higher level or danger. It means that the crew dealing with supply operations in such conditions must have some additional knowledge in subject field. The present publication briefly describes the offshore supply operations in Caspian Sea.

The readers will get to know how the local fleets have been developed and what should now be expected. The possibilities in other areas have also been discussed, being supplemented with some examples of possible ship concepts. Even though this is just a compact booklet but it still may provide some useful information for the people with the practical working interest in the offshore activities there in the Caspian area.

The ice creates a serious challenge to the offshore exploration of hydrocarbons and their production; there are additional requirements in comparison to the operations on the open water. Note that the ice conditions in different sea will differ and the quality and composition of the supply fleet will also be different. The ships engaged in supply operations in ice conditions today are normally multi-functional...

This is a very good training manual with the content developed by the Kongsberg specialists. It contains valuable information of the DP systems. We all know that DP technologies are developing very rapidly and maintaining and controlling such system requires high level of knowledge. Go through this manual and you will significantly improve your DP control skills.

Today, the demand of the offshore industry have eventually resulted in a set of completely new technical requirements. In addition, as the industry moves toward the deeper waters and also difficult locations from the environmental point of view (harsh weather conditions that may be expected at particular location), plus taking into account that only environmental-friendly methods shall be considered, this all brought about a significant development in the field of the DP technology and associated techniques.

Long story short, we do recommend you to have a look in this publication and we are quite sure that you will learn something new even if you are the professional and experienced operator of the DP system.

The fundamental purpose of the DPS of any ship is the automatic control of the heading and position of the vessel. A more sophisticated definition is to maintain the variations in ship's position and heading within acceptable limits, while achieving minimum thruster activity. 

This is the dynamics of a free floating vessel in an offshore marine environment. Then, the control system is covered, providing a review of the control loop of force and moments: sensing: counteraction to force. Generally, forces acting on the vessel and associated moments are environmental plus task related i.e. pipe tension; Operational modes. 

Each vessel is supplied with several different modes of operation, with the difference between the modes being the level of control available and how the position, heading speed and set points are generated. The combination of modes provided for a vessel mainly depends upon its role. Thus, a cable laying vessel will need Auto Track mode, which would commonly not be required for in case of a drilling platform...

This manual you are now holding in your hands has been intended to serve as a good means of reference for all people dealing with the maintenance, usage, purchase, and repair or any other activities related to the anchors. Although this publication was prepared from one manufacturers standpoint, the information presented inside of course applies to the majority of marine anchors.

It was our ultimate intention and the whole idea of creating this manual to make a small contribution to the successful work of all who work with anchors. The information contained in the pages o this manual is expected to be of great practical use for the crew members involved in anchoring operations, owing to the great professional experience of the people who worked on the content of the present document.

Of course, the authors understand that the total objectivity is impossible even though they have tried to cover the various types of anchors. After all, the theory and mechanics of the process remain same for all anchors and there are only some construction features that make cause the differences.

The book starts with the description of various mooring systems and components followed by a short historical background. Then the authors proceed to the characteristics of the anchors per type, design of the anchors, their holding capacities, soil classification and other aspects considered important enough to be covered.