Numerical investigation on behaviour of mooring line system for container ship at berth

Abstract

The constant growth of the world’s maritime industry has led to the need to increase the size of ships as well
as accelerate the trend of moving ports to open sea areas and outside estuaries. Increasing the size of ships,
especially container ships, has the potential to cause unsafe ship anchoring in ports. Furthermore, the mooring
of ships at the harbor also lacks international guidelines on the layout of the mooring system. Meanwhile, relocating seaports outside estuaries and open seas can create conditions for high winds, high tidal fluctuations
and strong currents to penetrate the port basin. This paper presents a study using the MIKE 21 MA numerical
model to determine the most optimal mooring layout for a container ship as well as clarify the influence of
factors (wind, current, water level and ship’s draft) on the tension force of the mooring lines. The most optimal mooring layout in the study scenarios was uncovered from the simulation results. In addition, wind was
identified as the factor with the greatest influence on the tension force of the mooring system.