Placement of spring line mooring points Normally, four mooring points for vessel spring lines should be provided

on the loading platform or on the breasting dolphins. They should be placed as close to the berthing face as possible to keep the spring lines as parallel as possible to the longitudinal axis of the vessel. As with breast lines, the vertical angle of spring lines should preferably not exceed 25 during loading or unloading, and line lengths should be comparable. Where a wide range of vessel sizes must be accommodated at berth, spring line interference may occur at the breasting dolphins from small vessels in loaded conditions. To diminish this problem, breasting dolphin elevations must be kept low and spring line mooring point positions carefully selected. Generally, two spring line mooring points forward and two aft are required, and they may be constructed as double hooks. However, special consideration must be given to smaller ships using the berth. GUIDANCE FOR SHIPBOARD MOORING EQUIPMENT LAYOUT The layout of shipboard mooring equipment concerns placement onboard ship of items such as winches, fairleads, chocks, pedestal rollers, etc. To accomplish the goals of good mooring principles, the following guidance should be considered. (1) The mooring arrangements should be symmetrical, and all mooring lines should be capable of being run to either side of the vessel. (2) Mooring operations should be located as far forward and aft as possible. Bow and stern fairleads should be located as far forward and aft and as low as possible on the ship. Spring line fairleads should be placed as far forward and aft on the main deck as possible to provide adequate spring line lengths. Breast lines should be as far forward and aft as possible to be most effective in restraining the yawing tendency of the moored ship. (3) Winches should be located so that the length of all breast lines from the winch drums to the shore mooring points are equal. Since clear deck space is limited, this may not always be realised. Nevertheless, winches and chocks should be located to make the total length as nearly equal as possible. (4) Mooring areas should be kept as clear as possible, and winch control positions should be located to provide a clear view of the mooring operations for the officer-in-charge of mooring. The correct alignment between fairlead and winch drum should be observed, and mooring lines in the same service should have about the same length between winch and chocks and between chocks and shore mooring points. (5) Consideration should be given to providing additional bits and fairleads onboard to permit use of shore moorings or shore augmentation of ship moorings.