EMERGENCY TOWING ARRANGEMENT

The requirement for towing facilities on board ships is nothing new.

Sailors may remember that they used to store and grease a thick wire on a drum within
the forecastle, the so-called "insurance cable" or "towing cable". The historical
background to this cable is long forgotten;

A "towline" was introduced in 1912 in Det norske Veritas’ (DnV) rules for both sailing
vessels and steamers.

While the "insurance cable" of the old days became obsolete, oil tanker accidents
showed that there was a need for a permanently rigged and easy to handle hook-up
arrangement to be installed on board the larger vessels.

To fasten a towline to a disabled and abandoned vessel in bad weather has always been
a very difficult and dangerous operation.

On board a powerless vessel the vessel’s own winches are of no use, and there may not
be much time available before the vessel drifts ashore.

When the fully loaded oil tanker "BRAER" foundered off the coast of Shetland in 1993,
the process of drafting regulations for an emergency towing arrangement for tankers
was accelerated and draft regulations were presented by IMO’s Maritime Safety
Committee in May 1994.

Such arrangements had already been designed in the mid 1980’s, and had been installed
on board North Sea shuttle tankers in the Statfjord field, as a remedy to pull them away
from the loading point in an emergency.

The IMO’s guidelines MSC 35 (63), adopted on 20th May 1994, require an emergency
towing arrangement to be fitted to the forward and aft end of the tanker.

The aft arrangement must be possible to rig in 15 minutes under harbour conditions,
while the forward one has a permitted deployment time of 60 minutes.

The arrangements need to be kept simple, as the equipment may have to be employed
in bad weather and in complete darkness if the vessel is powerless.

The emergency towing arrangement at the aft end of the vessel must consist of pick-up
gear, a towing pennant, chafing gear, a fairlead, a strong point and a roller pedestal.

There are strength requirements for most parts.

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 Furthermore, it is a particular requirement for the aft arrangement that the pick-up gear
can be released manually by one man only.

At the forward end, the pick-up gear and the towing pennant are made optional, but
there is to be a strong point, a fairlead and a chafing chain.

The towing components need to have a working strength of at least 1,000 kN 2 for
tankers between 20,000 and 50,000 tonnes deadweight, and of at least 2,000 kN for
vessels of greater tonnage.

Working strength is defined as one half ultimate strength.

The strength should be sufficient for all relevant angles of the towline, including a 90°
pull to either side, and a 30° vertical pull downwards.

Such requirements make it necessary not only to strengthen the vessel’s hull at the
strong point for the towing attachment, but also at the fairlead point.

The towing pennant is required to have a length of at least twice the lightest seagoing
ballast freeboard at the fairlead, plus 50 metres.

The requirements for the chafing gear allow for different designs, but if a chain is used, it
should be fixed to the strong point and reach at least three meters beyond the fairlead.

Before abandoning vessel, the crew is expected to drop the pick-up gear overboard at
the stern of the vessel.

Some manufacturers use only one buoy on the pick-up rope, others use two, claiming
that it is much easier to get hold of a rope between two buoys, than the buoy itself.

The buoys should be fitted with a light to facilitate detection at night.

While the forward gear is installed in the vessel’s centreline, the aft gear is often
installed off centre, where space is available.

The gear is therefore not meant for long tows, only emergency use.

Some owners have preferred to install the gear under deck, where it is better protected.

Today emergency towing arrangements are in place on tankers above 20,000 tonnes
deadweight, and it is believed that the equipment will prove its worth in years to come.

Opinions have also been voiced in favour of fitting such gear to other large vessels, like
bulk carriers and cruise vessels.

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 The installations are relatively inexpensive to fit on new vessels, and represent an added
safety and loss preventive factor for all large vessels

REQUIREMENTS OF ETA

Solas Chapter II -1 Part A-1 Reg 3-4 gives the requirements for ETA on tankers.

Emergency Towing Arrangement – Regulations and

Requirements

 Emergency Towing Arrangement is compulsory for all tankers of 20,000 DWT

and above (Diagram for both forward and aft arrangement at the end).

 It should be provided at both forward and aft end.

 Emergency Towing Arrangement should be able to work without any power

supply and should be accessible to the towing ship without needing to come too
close.

It should be ready for rapid deployment and at least one of the two should be
pre-rigged.

 Should be of sufficient strength, taking into account all the forces acting
upon it.

 Strength of the towing components should be as follows:

i. At least 1000 kN for tankers of 20,000-50,000 DWT.
ii. At least 2000 kN for tankers of 50,000 DWT and above.
iii. Sufficient strength at all towing angles from Centre line to 90° (Port & Stbd) and
30° vertically.

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 Length of the towing pennant should be at least twice the lightest seagoing
ballast freeboard at the fairlead + 50 mtrs.

 Fairlead should be broad enough to allow passing of the largest portion of the
chafing gear, towline.

 If a chafing chain is used, it should extend from the strong point to at least 3
mtrs beyond the fairlead to ensure that towing pennant remains out of the
fairlead during the operation.


 Arrangement should be there for safe and effective use in darkness also. This is
achieved by installing small bulbs on the float line and buoy.

 Forward arrangement should be deployed within 60 minutes with few men.

 Aft Emergency Towing Arrangement should be capable of being deployed within

15 minutes by a single crew member.

Arrangements of ETA

The emergency towing apparatus is designed to comply with IMO Res MSC 35(63) and
class rules.

The forward arrangement comprises the chafing chain and the chain stopper.

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 The chain stopper forms the strong point and transmit the load to the vessel’s structure
through the strengthened area that it is mounted upon.

The chain is locked into the chain stopper by a manually operated swinging arm that
abuts the chain link when in the locked position.

The leverage is arranged so that as the load increases on the chain from the towing
action the force exerted on the lever serves to lock it even more securely.
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 It is not possible to release the stopper when there is load on the chain.

To do so a rope can be attached to the free end of the chain and around the pedestal
roller to the mooring winch.

This can be used to haul back on the chain and relieve the load on the stopper thus
allowing the arm to swung up clear of the chain link.

The chafing chain passes through panama chock and terminates with a link to which the
tow rope is attached.

As the name suggests the chafing chain is used for the section of the tow where chafing
could result in damage to the equipment , as it passes through the panama chock.

PROCEDURE FOR LAUNCHING THE AFT ETA

The aft arrangement is intended for quick release and easy retrieval . a storage box
contains the pick up gear, marker buoy and messenger rope.

The towing pennant is stowed on storage drum situated on the aft part of the deck and
the messenger line and floats are stored in a dedicated box located at te aft.

The storage drum housed the towing pennant and retrieval rope and it is fitted with a
centrifugal brake used to regulate the pay out tension of the rope and thus prevent the
rope from running away and becoming caught up in the drum

The drum has a retaining chain incorporating a weak link to prevent it from rotating
when not in use. This should be released prior to testing the operation of the
equipment. In normal operation the weak link is designed to break when a force of three
tons is applied during deployment.

An air motor can be engaged to the drum and used to wind in the pennant and rope
when finished.

The fair lead is the strong point in the system and is mounted on a strengthened part of
the deck able to withstand the force exerted during the tow. It is arranged with a
tapered entry point so that the shackle linking the towing pennant to the retrieval rope
cn not pass through.

The pick up gear is stored in a box mounted to the side of the fairlead.

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 The box has a swing open bottom plate and is arranged so that the plate when opened
the pick gear will drop into the sea.

The pick up gear is attached to the end of the towing pennant through the fairlead and is
therefore ready for use with no attaching of the gear unnecessary.

Pick up gear comprises of a marker buoy with a self igniting light attached to pick up
rope. The pick up rope is buoyant and brightly colored to make it easily visible and is
attached to a heavier gauge messenger wire which is used by the towing vessel to haul
the towing pennant on board.

Emergency towing Booklet (EBT)

Purpose

All Ships above 500GT shall be provided with a ship Specific emergency towing
procedure as per SOLAS Ch-11-1 Reg: 3-4, MSC. 256 (84). Including:

■ All passenger ships, not later than 1 Jan. 2010.

■ Cargo Ships constructed on or after 1 Jan. 2010, and

■ Cargo ships constructed before 1 Jan. 2010, not later than 1-Jan- 2012.

Features
Calculation of safe working load (SWL) for mooring equipment
(e.g. bollards, fairleads, chocks).
Overview of all onboard equipment intended for towing operations.
Description of towing patterns for various scenarios in easy-to-use format.
Ship specific emergency towing procedures

Benefits

Calculation of bollard strength and preparation of ship specific

emergency towing procedures out of one hand.
Full compliance with new SOLAS requirements.
Emergency preparedness.

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 Contents of the Book

1. Main particulars

2. List of facilities
2.1 List of communication equipment
2.2 List of power supply equipment
2.3 Steering gears
2.4 Anchors, chain cables and mooring ropes
2.5 Arrangement of deck facilities on upper deck in the bow
2.6 Arrangement of deck facilities on upper deck in the stern
2.7 List of deck tools
2.8 List of other facilities

3. Decision matrix for determining towing patterns

4. Towing patterns

(1)Pattern1-F (towing from the bow)

(2)Pattern1-A (towing from the stern)

(3)Pattern2-F (towing from the bow)

(4)Pattern2-A (towing from the stern)

(5)Pattern3-F (towing from the bow)

(6)Pattern3-A (towing from the stern)

5. Organization

5.1 Personnel distribution

5.2 List of tasks and necessary equipment

5.3 Notes for the towing operation

6. Examples of the procedures for connecting towing lines

(1)Pattern1-F: Use a wire rope

(2)Pattern2-F: Use wire ropes

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 (3)Pattern3-F: Use hawsers of the ship

4. Towing patterns

The towing patterns for this ship are the following 6 patterns in principle.

The pattern is determined by the captain or the headquarters in consultation with the
towing company, taking into account of the ship status and the surrounding conditions.

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