Emergency Unberthing without Tug Assistance

Shipmasters may have to perform unberthing without tugboat assistance when a tsunami warning is issued. Keeping this in mind, we studied emergency unberthing without tug assistance by conducting numerical simulations and full‐mission ship maneuvering simulator (SMS) experiments. A panamax class medium‐sized bulker and a pure car carrier (PCC) were used as test ships. In the experiments, we established the limitations of basic shiphandling techniques such as stern kick out, backing, and accelerating turn in windy conditions using a mathematical modeling group (MMG)‐type mathematical maneuvering model. On the basis of the results, we produced a shiphandling scenario and evaluated it using SMS experiments. We concluded that unberthing without tug assistance in 5 m/s onshore winds is possible. Furthermore, the use of thrusters can greatly reduce the time required for unberthing. http://www.transnav.eu the International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation Volume 9