Advanced Shore Based Mooring (ASBM)

The longstanding tradition of using lines to moor ships to docks is inherently labor intensive and hazardous. Synthetic line snapback, limbs caught in rigging, as well as failed deck fitting projectiles, have maimed and killed many shipboard and dockside personnel over the years. Likewise, the challenges associated with shortening, slacking, doubling up and singling up lines to adjust for changing environmental conditions requires substantial human vigilance. Without this attention, lines and/or bitts can become overloaded due to tension loads applied, often at excessive angles. Automated methods have replaced many such manpower intensive systems in other modern day systems. Navy harbor facilities accommodate a very wide range of ship sizes and shapes from large sealift and amphibious ships to, to trimarans, to cylindrical hull shaped submarines. An automated mooring system will be developed that mitigates the hazards associated with mooring lines, while accommodating a larger variety of ship sizes and types than what can be with current commercially available automated systems.