THE MOORING SERIES — MAINTENANCE OF MOORING SYSTEMS

This is the third part of the popular “The Mooring Series”. Note that the training set also includes two other videos and a booklet to be used together. The ship is heading out to sea. A voyage begins. The mooring system served well in port, and now wires and ropes are checked and stored waiting for the next entry to harbor. But the story is not as simple as that. The mooring system must work properly every time no matter in what conditions it is employed, no matter how much work and how to do when last in use, any damage suffered when it was last used must be put right.

A lot of planning and hard work is required to ensure that the ship’s mooring system is maintained in a good working order. Here we will describe some of the most important tasks that are involved in the mooring system maintenance. The planned maintenance system shall be established on all ships in line with the procedures outlines in their SMS. Essentially, all winches, ropes, wires, shackles, stoppers, and fairleads – in fact, the whole system requires periodic inspection and maintenance.

These would normally be carried out during a deep sea passage. In most cases, mooring winches are driven either by hydraulic or electrical power. During the routine maintenance, check that the heaving and slack out markings are clearly visible on the control system…