Process for mooring a ship and a fender arrangement for such mooring process

Claim 1

In a process of mooring a ship at a ship terminal, using at least two fenders to damp push forces transmitted from the ship to said ship terminal, including hauling the ship towards the ship terminal with a hauling tension provided in a number of hawsers by means of associated mooring winches, the steps of: (a) simultaneously exerting a controlled nominal hauling tension in each hawser to provide a nominal minimum push force from the ship towards said ship terminal via said fenders, (b) damping said push forces by means of a fluid pressure medium in each fender, (c) relieving said pressure medium in said fenders when the pressures thereof exceed predetermined respective pressures, (d) determining the pressure of said pressure medium by means of at least three separate measuring means, including a first measuring means indicating the pushing force acting between the ships hull and the jetty, a second measuring means indicating the force acting between the ships hull and the fender longitudinally of the ship and a third measuring means indicating the force acting between the ships hull and the fender vertically of the ship, and (e) regulating the hauling tension in each hawser in relation to the pressures indicated in said first, second and third measuring means in order to provide a minimum frictional resistance between the ship's hull and each of said fenders, said minimum resistance being regulated such that a controlled vertical movement of the ship's hull in relation to the fenders is allowed, whereas movement of the ship's hull longitudinally of the ship in relation to the fenders is prevented.

Claim 3

A method of mooring a ship to a jetty comprising providing hawsers from the jetty to the ship, all arranged for pulling the ship directly towards the jetty, providing a plurality of fenders on the jetty, developing fluid pressures proportional respectively to the forces applied by the ship viz, (a) applied normal to the longitudinal axis of the ship, (b) applied to the fenders longitudinally of the ship and (c) applied frictionally to the fenders vertically, adjusting the tension in the hawsers in accordance with said pressures such that movement of the ships hull vertically of the fenders is allowed, whereas movement of the ship's hull longitudinally of the ship in relation to the fenders is prevented, providing damping pressure against at least one of said forces and relieving the damping pressure when these exceed predetermined limits.

Claim 4

A method of mooring a ship to a jetty comprising providing hawsers from the jetty to the ship, all arranged for pulling the ship directly towards the jetty, providing a plurality of fenders on the jetty, developing fluid pressures proportional respectively to the forces applied by the ship viz, (a) applied normal to the longitudinal axis of the ship, (b) applied to the fenders longitudinally of the ship and (c) applied frictionally to the fenders vertically, adjusting the tension in the hawsers in accordance with said pressures such that movement of the ships hull vertically of the fenders is allowed, whereas movement of the ship's hull longitudinally of the ship in relation to the fenders is prevented, providing damping pressure against at least one of said forces and relieving the damping pressure when these exceed predetermined limits.