ROTATION OF

BERTHING SHIPS
Albert Loh
25 Jan, 2022

Abstract
Design for ship berthing has tradi onally used the velocity of the ship perpendicular to the
berth. Rota on of the ship is usually ignored.

However, it is logical that rota on of the ship will have a signi cant e ect on its impact with
the berth fenders. This paper examines the e ect of ship rota on on berthing and
recommends a simple way to deal with it in design of fender systems for ship berthing.

By simply referencing the berthing speed to the point of impact with the fenders instead of the
vessel CG, the e ect of vessel rota on is automa cally taken care of. In addi on, it is much
easier to measure the speed of the vessel impact point rela ve to the fender rather than the
vessel CG. This will lead to safer and more controlled berthing.

BERTHING VELOCITY MEASURED AT IMPACT POINT

AUTOMATICALLY INCLUDES VESSEL ROTATION
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 GENERAL CASE
For the general case where the impact force and/or the CG velocity is not perpendicular
to the berthing line, the problem can be split into two orthogonal direc ons:-
perpendicular and parallel to the berthing line.

Note that the fender characteris cs for these two direc ons are usually completely
di erent. The di ering characteris cs can be easily accommodated if the problem is
split into the two orthogonal direc ons and solved independently.

FENDER CHARACTERISTICS

Usually the vessel movement and reac on of the fenders in the direc on
parallel to the berthing line is ignored. The fender characteris c curves show
that for most berthing impact angles, the fender shear forces parallel to the
berthing line are small.
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 ENERGY ABSORBED BY FENDER

F
or normal berthing calcula on, the fender energy is equated with the kine c energy of the
berthing vessel[1][2][3][4]:-

Fender energy = 1/2M V 2.Cm.Ce

Where M = displacement of the vessel,

V = speed of the vessel perpendicular to the berth,
(Measured at the vessel CG)
Cm = added mass coe cient
Ce = coe cient of eccentricity

To simplify the formulas in this paper, the le er m is used to represent the mass M of the vessel
mul plied by the added mass coe cient Cm.
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 EFFECT OF ROTATION

R ota on of the vessel can obviously have a signi cant e ect on the berthing impact.
However, rota on is usually assumed to be zero for compu ng the berthing impact.
This is obviously not correct.

When there is a rota on of the vessel about its CG, the rota on changes the velocity at
the point of contact with the fender. These changes are highlighted in red in the
following formulas.

Note that if we de ne the berthing velocity V as the velocity at the point of impact with
the fender, we end up with exactly the same formula as before. The rota on of the ship
has been automa cally included.

It is not only simpler to use the velocity at the impact point, it is also more logically
correct as the fender itself acts at that point. In addi on, it is much easier to es mate /
measure the velocity of the side of the ship rela ve to the fender, rather than having to
calculate the theore cal velocity at the ship’s CG.

T he energy absorbed by the fender depends only on the ini al velocity V of the
impact point. It does not ma er what the ini al velocity of the cg or the ini al
rota on is.
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 EQUIVALENT MASSES

A nother way of looking at impact with rota on is to treat the vessel as two equivalent
masses m1 and m2, where m1+ m2 = the original mass m, and the iner a of the 2 masses
about the CG equals that of the original mass mk2.

This method makes it much easier to understand the system. The e ects of impact is exactly
equivalent to a smaller lumped mass m1 = Ce.m hi ng directly on the fender. Rota on of the
vessel only a ects the velocity of m2, but not the impact on the fender.
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 NUMERICAL VERIFICATION

W hen working with long equa ons, it is easy to make errors. Therefore, the equa ons were
formulated in a spreadsheet, which allowed the equa ons to be separated into simple
smaller components and individually veri ed.

EXCEL SPREADSHEET TO NUMERICALLY VERIFY THE

CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THE FORMULAS

TIME STEP ANALYSIS

A me-step analysis made from rst principles F = m.a was formulated on a spreadsheet to
further study the behaviour vessel rota on during berthing impact. The analysis con rmed
that energy absorbed by the fender depends on the velocity at the impact point.

TIME STEP ANALYSIS OF SHIP DURING BERTHING TO VERIFY THE

ACCURACY OF THE ENERGY BASED BERTHING EQUATION
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 CONCLUSIONS
- By simply referencing the berthing speed to the point of impact with the fenders instead of
the vessel CG, the e ect of vessel rota on is automa cally taken care of, and no change is
necessary to the standard berthing calcula ons.

- It is much easier to measure the speed of the vessel impact point rela ve to the fender
rather than the vessel CG. Measurement devices can be mounted at the outer fender points
to measure the impact velocity. This will lead to safer and more controlled berthing.

V
BERTHING VELOCITY MEASURED FROM CG
OF VESSEL (CONVENTIONAL)

BERTHING VELOCITY MEASURED AT IMPACT POINT

(SUGGESTED)
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-
 REFERENCES

1. PIANC WG 33 (2002): “Guidelines for the Design of Fender Systems”, Brussels, Belgium,
ISBN-2-87223-125-0

2. Bri sh Standard BS 6349 Part 4 (2014): “Mari me Works: Code of Prac ce for Design of
Fendering and Mooring Systems”, London, United Kingdom, ISBN 978-0-580-66969-9.

3. Spanish ROM 3.1-99: “Design of Mari me Con gura on of Ports, Approach Channels and
Harbour Basins”, Madrid, Spain.

4. PIANC Marcom WG Report no.145 (2020): “Berthing Velocity Analysis of Seagoing Vessels Over
30,000 DWT ". The World Associa on for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure. Brussels,
Belgium.
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