Analytical comparison of different mooring systems

The number of ships and ports are increasing in connection with growing transportation demand in the world each passing day. And thus the numbers of mooring operations are increasing. Mooring operations are one of the most dangerous operations for ships and ports. Lots of accidents that result in deaths, injuries and financial loss have been lived during mooring operations. Lack of mooring equipment maintenance, untrained and inexperienced personnel, equipment failures, available weather conditions, poor communication, safety procedure errors, risk assessment failure are main factors that triggering mooring accidents that occurred while using conventional mooring system involving ropes and windlass. There have been various innovations in the maritime industry in terms of mooring systems, like the automated vacuum mooring systems, magnetic mooring systems, berthing aid systems, to reduce the hazards associated with mooring operations. Still most of vessels use mooring arrangements involving ropes and windlass. These systems have benefits, as they are flexible and enable berthing at most ports. However, the risks associated with operating conventional mooring system involving ropes and windlass continue to increase as vessels become larger and number of mooring operations increase. In this study, working principles of vacuum based automated mooring system, magnetic mooring system and conventional mooring system involving ropes and windlass will be expressed briefly. Three different mooring systems compared with each other in terms of defined criteria as operation safety, operating cost, maintenance cost, environmental effect, ease of handling, limitations of systems etc. With this study, advantages and disadvantages of vacuum based automated mooring system, magnetic mooring system and conventional mooring system involving ropes and windlass revealed. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) which is a multicriteria decision making method used for comparison of different mooring systems. The analyses using the AHP method performed by Super Decisions which is a software tool.