1. Overview — Approaching Berths
Source: NAYAK, Capt. Santosha K. Theory and Practices of Marine Pilotage. Chapter 15 — Approaching Berths.
Syllabus: Anexo 2-B, Área II (Arte Naval), item 8 (NAYAK), Cap. 15 — aproximação de berços. Cross-list Área III, item 6.
By the time the vessel is brought up to the berth, the greater part of the pilotage skill has already been spent. This is the final leg of the manoeuvre before she is placed on a safe berth, and it is marked by very slow speed — of the order of 1 kt or less. Quick engine movements, often followed by reverse orders, may be needed to hold her position.
Close to the berth all three dimensions of sea-room, and the fourth dimension of headroom, become restricted at once. Besides managing the lateral and vertical positioning of the ship, the pilot must resort to extreme speed control, keeping both the longitudinal and the lateral speed in hand while preserving sufficient under-keel and headroom clearance.
Tugs are used judiciously so as not to deviate from the planned position, pushing the ship laterally onto the fenders parallel yet smoothly, so that the full load is spread equally over all fenders. It is a very precise exercise, and a good berthing is team work between ship staff, tug staff, pilot and jetty staff — a coordinated exercise led by the pilot.
2. Checks Before Approaching the Berth
The turning basin is the last breather point before the final approach. There is usually sufficient sea-room to wait there, so it is good practice to reduce speed in the basin and buy time to confirm everything is in order — or to change the berthing plan if any factor affecting a safe berthing has changed. Jetty officers normally round the berth and check clearances beforehand, but the pilot should still confirm the following twelve points before proceeding.
| # | Check | What to confirm |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berth is clear | Structures, lights and signals working; fenders and markings in good order. In busy ports the berth number may change at the last moment. |
| 2 | Which side alongside | Usually declared in advance for cargo operations; sometimes left to the pilot, who then plans for easy inward and outward movement. A gangway or cargo-gear limitation may force a particular side. |
| 3 | Berth space is enough | Berth length must accommodate the ship safely. In a tight case, mooring lines of already-berthed ships may eat up space and have to be rearranged. |
| 4 | Tight clearances ahead and astern | Clearance may be only 10–12 m from another vessel, with head/stern lines of neighbours coming to within 3–4 m of the hull. Engine movements and their quickness of response become critical. |
| 5 | Clear head-rooms | Gantry height above sea-level must exceed the ship's air draft. Large container vessels reach 45–55 m air draft while gantry heads are often around 40 m, so booms must be lifted before the approach. |
| 6 | Depths at the berth | Critical for loaded drafts; ports may berth deeper ships on high tide. Cargo falling off the jetty silts the berth, so regular survey is needed or the ship will not come alongside even at full tug push. |
| 7 | Space for tugs to work | Rarely a problem, except at the last berth close to land in river ports, where a ship pushed outboard leaves the tugs little sea-room. |
| 8 | Predominant current along the berth | Confirm strength and direction of current at the exact time of berthing; allow for any time delay in the plan. |
| 9 | Wind offshore or onshore | Confirm strength and direction just before berthing; assess the windage areas (broad side, container stacks, accommodation) and put tugs on standby to control lateral movement. |
| 10 | Tugs powerful to pull her out | Tug power must be enough to save the situation if something goes seriously wrong. |
| 11 | Gantries location on the berth | For high-flare ships, a bow or stern moving over the jetty at unequal speed can strike gantries. Prefer gantries positioned amidships or away from the final ship position. |
| 12 | Lighting showing the bow | At night, insufficient berth lighting is met with the ship's outboard flood lights or portable lights; retro-reflective posts help the pilot avoid confusion among clusters of lights. |
3. Checks While Approaching the Berth
When about one berth space before the start of the berth, bring the speed down to a range of about 1 kt — varying with the size, displacement and prevailing weather. From here the pilot works through a series of checks and decisions.
3.1 Decide on the type of near-berth manoeuvre
After crossing the previous berthed ship, or about one ship's length before the correct position, the near-berth manoeuvre begins. Though already fixed in the berthing plan agreed at the master–pilot information exchange, it may change with the actual scene — a sudden increase in wind, sudden rain, a gantry failure restricting headroom. If there is no time to explain a change fully, the pilot at least briefs the master that the plan has changed, so he does not panic at the deviation.
3.2 Re-test of astern engines
Just before the final approach it is good practice to carry out a re-test of the astern engine: the ship gives astern, reduces speed marginally, and gives ahead again if needed to regain the minimum speed. This confirms astern power is available to check the speed; otherwise a tug must be deployed for back-pulling. With small clearances, the least uncontrolled speed can make her hit a ship berthed ahead or run aground.
3.3 Engine movements and response
Diligent speed control is decisive, and the pilot must know the ship's engine response before approaching:
| Ship / situation | Engine behaviour to allow for |
|---|---|
| Time-lag ships | A delay between the engine order and the actual turning/stopping of the propeller must be realised in advance. |
| CPP vessels | Even after stopping, she keeps moving ahead or astern; hard to control with very small clearances. |
| Light vessels | Very swift and responsive to small engine movements. |
| Loaded vessels | Respond late to engine commands; higher engine may be needed to break even a tiny decimal of speed. |
| Slotting | Better to make an S–Z approach to avoid heavy engine use. |
3.4 Effects of tugs
Pushing or pulling, a tug creates a marginal ahead or astern speed depending on its location and effort — this must be allowed for before ordering engine movements. In a parallel approach, as the ship gains lateral speed towards the berth she also gains an unwanted longitudinal speed from the tug push, which must be kept under control. Even tugs merely on standby to push or pull produce a slight effect, so small or light ships call for special care.
3.5 Touching the fenders
Whatever the approach — angled or parallel — the ship must touch parallel to the fenders so the weight spreads equally over all of them. She may be angled or parallel until the bow or stern reaches a distance of ½ B (half the ship's beam) from the berth line; once inside that safe zone every care is taken to make her parallel. Once parallel with no or minimal speed (below 0.2 kt), tugs push or pull her sideways to the planned, tolerable falling-on-fenders speed.
Before the bow or stern reaches a distance of ½ of the ship's width from the berth line, every care must be taken to make the vessel parallel to the berth line — she must then fall on the fenders with no or minimum speed of less than 0.2 kts.
3.6 References to get the feel of speed
At these very low speeds, electronic indicators are neither accurate enough nor fast enough — a delay of a few seconds is unacceptable while the ship is falling on the fenders. The best method is to observe a pair of fixed objects on the jetty or nearby land: their relative motion gives the real-time longitudinal or lateral speed. Useful references are gantry heads, light poles, trees, standing cranes, buildings or fixed lights.
3.7 Passing the lines, communication and positioning
Jetty crew stand by to take the messenger line and pass the spring lines as quickly as possible, since the springs check the longitudinal movement and save engine movements. Communication with jetty staff is vital: the channel must be kept free for berthing traffic only, backed by GMDSS walkie-talkies, and messages must be loud, short and clear, spoken away from the wind and with the PTT fully pressed. The jetty officer, well versed in all distances and clearances, monitors clearances from other vessels until the springs are fast, and watches for the ship moving ahead or falling aft under a running current until all lines are fast.
4. Approach Speed and Falling on the Fenders
4.1 Angled versus parallel approach
Conventionally the ship approaches at an angle to the face line of the pier, the bow line is taken, and the stern is pushed in. This method is still used for vessels up to 30,000 GT. Larger vessels generally approach and lie parallel to the pier at a distance of 1–1.5 times the beam (allowing for ships on the berths ahead or astern) and are then pushed sideways onto the pier by a tug — the parallel approach.
4.2 Advantages and disadvantages of the parallel approach
The choice depends on the pier layout, but a mistake in reducing speed on a parallel approach to a long pier merely overruns the scheduled stop position and does not damage the pier.
4.3 Falling-on-the-fenders (fof) speed and contact energy
Once parallel and within the ½ B safe zone, the ship is brought onto the fenders at the planned falling-on-fenders speed. The energy with which she strikes the fenders is proportional to the square of this contact speed:
where $E$ is the contact energy (ton-m); $W_i$ is the displacement $W$ (tons) multiplied by a transverse added-mass coefficient (1.0 to 2.0); $g$ is the acceleration due to gravity; $V_f$ is the berthing (contact) velocity (m/s); and $k$ is the energy-diminution coefficient due to turning, etc. For a handy-max of 50,000 MT contacting at 10 cm/s, with added-mass 1.8 and $k = 0.7$, the contact energy is about 32.1 ton-m — equivalent to a 2-ton car hitting a wall at 65 km/h.
Vessels generally approach at a maximum contact speed of 10 cm/s (0.2 kt); large vessels such as big container ships, Capesize bulk carriers and VLCCs approach at 5 cm/s (0.1 kt). These speeds let the fenders absorb the energy and prevent damage to hull and pier.
5. Parallel Approach for Large Vessels — Offshore vs Onshore Wind
Modern pilotage uses a parallel approach with two tugs — one at the bow, one at the quarter — for all large, high-displacement vessels. It is the most convenient and safe method of berthing, though it takes a little longer, and is preferred for heavy vessels where the stakes are high. As the tugs push her parallel onto the berth she gains marginal ahead or astern speed, calling for many engine commands to hold position; but the advantage is that even if something fails she stays under control and the tugs can pull her out at once.
The wind can be turned to advantage in controlling the lateral approach onto the fenders:
| Wind | Effect on the ship | Tug handling |
|---|---|---|
| Offshore wind | Blows the ship away from the berth; control is actually better. | Tugs apply a proportionate push to nullify the wind and let her fall slowly and under control onto the fenders. |
| Onshore wind | Its maximum effect on the accommodation pushes the stern in faster than the bow, so she approaches at an angle. | The aft tug is put on pulling and keeps pulling the stern to control it; the bow tug is used as the situation demands. |
6. Acute-Angle and Obtuse-Angle Approaches
6.1 Acute-angle approach
In the acute-angle approach the ship makes an acute angle to the berth and closes slowly: the bow comes closer while the stern stays a little farther off. The forward tug is always standby to pull and the aft tug standby to push; in an emergency the forward tug pulls the bow to safety away from the jetty. The ship's path traces an S or Z curve, depending on which side is alongside.
6.2 Obtuse-angle approach
In the obtuse-angle approach the ship makes a larger angle to the berth and heads towards the bow position to pass the forward mooring lines onto the jetty, holding that angle until the lines are passed. The forward lines are made tight; then a stern tug, if available, pushes the stern in to pass the stern lines. If no stern tug is available, the ship gives wheel hard over to starboard and ahead engines to swing the stern in, the forward movement being checked by the forward mooring lines. The path looks like an arc centred on the bow.
7. Turning in Front of the Berth and Stern Approach
7.1 Turning in front of the berth
Where the vessel length and berth space allow, she is turned in front of the berth to berth safely on a particular side. The tugs are made fast on the berth side while approaching, so they end up on the opposite side to the berth; the berth itself is the reference. While turning, the stern is kept at a pre-calculated minimum safe distance from the berth — preferably about a distance equal to the beam width of the ship — so she is always in safe water.
7.2 Stern approach after turning at the turning basin
If there is not much space in front of the berth, the ship is turned at the turning basin and then moved astern all the way to the berth. The typical features are that she runs astern from the basin to the berth and the stern makes the approach earlier than the bow. Once near the berth, a parallel, acute-angle or obtuse-angle approach is used to bring her alongside and pass the mooring lines.
8. Offshore Anchor Lateral Approach and Slotting
8.1 Offshore anchor lateral approach
This is a special operation for a port with less-developed infrastructure, where a tug-guided berthing is not suitable. It is used when there is a strong current at the berth hard to hold at low speed, when sea-room is too tight to keep engines running long, when tugs are not available, and when the weather suits — an onshore breeze sufficient to make a controlled drift.
The weather-side anchor is let go underfoot and slowly paid out as the ship drifts towards the berth. As the stern closes in, lines are passed quickly and tightened to hold it; then wheel hard over and ahead engines bring the bow close in to pass lines. Throughout, the anchor cable holds the ship's position close to the berth and allows a controlled closing.
8.2 Slotting
Slotting is berthing into a position with ships already berthed forward and aft, the clearances very close. The ship is literally pushed in with no margin of error fore and aft.
9. Double Banking
Double banking is berthing a vessel alongside another vessel. The mother vessel must be prepared and assessed as ready in all respects; after careful examination and risk assessment she is fitted with big Yokohama fenders to create sufficient space between the two ships.
| # | Precaution for double banking |
|---|---|
| 1 | Never approach at an angle to the other vessel at any cost. |
| 2 | Make best use of the wind. |
| 3 | Fall slowly onto the fenders. |
| 4 | Touch parallel to the fenders — any angle may cause metal-to-metal contact between the ships. |
| 5 | Touch the fenders without any forward or aft speed, or it may break their lines. |
| 6 | Use tugs, if any, judiciously. |
| 7 | Check the combination (small + big, same size, big + small) and the freeboard difference. |
10. Special Operations — Cold Movement, Short Tow and Towing Alongside
10.1 Cold movement
A cold movement is planned to berth a ship with the engine under repair, or forced unexpectedly if the engine fails mid-manoeuvre. In any case at least three tugs are required for a safe berthing: one acts as the ship's propulsion — made fast at the centre lead forward or, better if conditions permit, right aft where it can both pull and push from astern — while the other two assist the bow and stern for any swing and lateral movement.
10.2 Shortening the tow (short tow line)
A short tow-line arrangement gives better control in a planned berthing; in an emergency, when time is critical, a single tow line is enough. Shortening the tow provides a steering effect, especially in narrow channels and rivers where assisting tugs are few. Where possible, an additional tug at the stern helps position the stern better in a narrow channel.
10.3 Towing alongside
When a barge is towed alongside the tug, the connection is made with a suitable heavy spring and a stern rope. The tug is positioned close to the stern of the barge, so its own stern overhangs the barge's stern; the further forward the tug lies, the harder it is to steer the combined unit. Proper fastening of the ropes is key — a line parting on the way, especially in restricted waters, creates a distressing and wholly undesirable situation.
