Ship Berthing Research Articles

Analysis of Loading and Unloading Productivity on Berth Utility at the Multipurpose Terminal Teluk Bayur Port

The Purpose of this study is to analyze the ability of loading and unloading productivity and the time of ship berthing in influencing the berth utility at The Multipurpose Terminal Teluk Bayur Port. This study was designed with quantitative research methods for testing hypotheses using the regression analysis method of secondary data collected by 36 samples. The results of the study found that loading and unloading productivity and berthing time significantly of affected 71.3% on berth utility. The rest is done by controlling the ratio of effective time to berthing time so that it remains above 70% by reducing idle time and not operation time, so that berth utility is achieved according to the standard BOR that has been set.

Ship Berthing Information Extraction System Using Three-Dimensional Light Detection and Ranging Data

Safe and efficient berthing is essential to ensure maritime transportation and the safety of ships and ports. Three-dimensional (3D) light detection and ranging (LiDAR) can monitor and support ship berthing because it provides abundant target information and offers excellent advantages in measuring accuracy. Hence, a berthing information extraction system has been developed based on 3D LiDAR. Principal component analysis is used to calculate a ship’s heading and the normal vector, and the feature points of the bow and stern are determined. The segments passing through the points are obtained via region growing. The bow and stern are recognized by the similarity of the normal vector of the segments and ship’s heading according to the positions of the ship relative to the berth through visibility analysis. Qualitative and quantitative calculated analyses of the distance, velocity, and approach angle of the dynamic ship’s bow and stern relative to the dock are performed based on the feature points of 3D LiDAR data. A laser scanner, used as the detection unit, efficiently monitored the Ro–Ro ship Ocean Island berthing at Lushun Port in field experiments. On-site applications demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method for the recognition of dynamic ship target and ensuring safe ship berthing.

Research on Hydroelastic Response of an FMRC Hexagon Enclosed Platform

The numerical hydroelastic method is used to study the structural response of a hexagon enclosed platform (HEP) of flexible module rigid connector (FMRC) structure that can provide life accommodation, ship berthing and marine supply for ships sailing in the deep ocean. Six trapezoidal floating structures constitute the HEP structure so that it is a symmetrical very large floating structure (VLFS). The HEP has the characteristics of large area and small depth, so its hydroelastic response is significant. Therefore, this paper studies the structural responses of a hexagon enclosed platform of FMRC structure in waves by means of a 3D potential-flow hydroelastic method based on modal superposition. Numerical models, including the hydrodynamic model, wet surface model and finite element method (FEM) model, are established, a rigid connection is simulated by many-point-contraction (MPC) and the number of wave cases is determined. The load and structural response of HEP are obtained and analyzed in all wave cases, and frequency-domain hydroelastic calculation and time-domain hydroelastic calculation are carried out. After obtaining a number of response amplitude operators (RAOs) for stress and time-domain stress histories, the mechanism of the HEP structure is compared and analyzed. This study is used to guide engineering design for enclosed-type ocean platforms.

Penerapan Inaportnet dalam Proses Pelayanan Penyandaran Kapal: Studi Kasus

The significance of ports in global trade activities has a significant impact on a city, region, and even a nation. A port with adequate facilities and a superior system will make port activities more effective, neutral, and even simple for its users. Inaportnet is a facility that is currently used by major Indonesian ports, including the port of Tanjung Emas in Semarang. The users of this system include exporters, importers, shipping lines, and others, in addition to port players. PT Global Logistic Agency is one of the user companies that has been using the Inaportnet framework. This study was descriptive research using a structured interview method. This study aims to examine the use of Inaportnet from the side of the organizer represented by PT. Global Logistics Agency. The results showed that the use of Inaportnet played an important role in the implementation of ship berthing services in terms of time efficiency, energy, and demurrage, the Inaportnet system is still found down or system errors are due to maintenance from the management unit so that PT. Global Logistic Agency must carry out conventional or manual implementation.

Agent-based Intelligent Dispatching Model of Port Ships

As the hub of my country’s import and export trade, the port’s throughput has also grown rapidly in recent years with the rapid development of my country’s economy. Ship operations are an important part of port operations. At present, most ship operations in ports are based on planning and dispatching. However, in the actual operation process, the port is often disturbed by some unexpected situations, such as ship berthing time delay, quay crane failure, etc., resulting in the failure of the original plan to be implemented normally, resulting in passive waiting of ships and idle berths. As a result, terminal resources are left unused, affecting the efficiency of port ships, causing waste of port resources, and affecting port throughput. This paper proposes to establish an Agent-based intelligent port ship dispatch model to solve this problem. This model includes three types of agents: Quayside Crane Agent, Ship Agent and Master Control Agent. Each agent perceives the external environment in real time through the perception module, and can communicate with other agents through the communication layer to deliver real-time information and realize intelligent dispatch. This model can effectively solve the problem of low terminal utilization due to disturbance, improve the port’s operating efficiency, and then increase the port’s throughput.

강화학습 기반 예인선 제어방법에 의한 선박 자율 접안

강화학습 기반 예인선 제어방법에 의한 선박 자율 접안

Algorithm of Berthing and Maneuvering for Catamaran Unmanned Surface Vehicle Based on Ship Maneuverability

In the complex port environment, ship berthing manipulation is one of the most difficult operations. In this study, an algorithm of berthing and maneuvering was designed for a catamaran unmanned surface vehicle (USV), which is used for port patrol and protection. Considering the influence of wind, waves, and currents, the mathematical model of the maneuvering movement for the twin-hull and twin-propeller USV was established. Based on the Visual Studio development platform, the USV’s berthing manipulation simulation software was designed. Through the turning simulation experiment of the catamaran USV under different differential rotation speeds of the twin propellers, the relationship between the ship’s turning radius and the propeller speed difference was obtained. A simulation experiment of decelerating and stopping ships at different speeds was carried out, which can provide a reference for speed control when berthing. A berthing maneuvering algorithm based on ship maneuverability was proposed. USV’s berthing algorithm includes three stages: approach process, turning process, and berthing process. In the approach process, the appropriate approach speed was select according to the rotation angle. In the turning process, the right and left propeller speed differences were select. In the berthing process, the berthing speed was controlled according to the berthing distance. In the port environment, a berthing simulation experiment for catamaran USV was carried out. The simulation results show that based on the berthing and maneuvering algorithm, the efficiency and safety of catamaran USV berthing can be improved.

Optimization of Shore Power Deployment in Green Ports Considering Government Subsidies

Shipping trade and port operations are two of the primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The emission of air pollutants brings severe problems to the marine environment and coastal residents’ lives. Shore power technology is an efficient CO2 emission reduction program, but it faces sizeable initial investment and high electricity prices. For shipping companies, energy such as low-sulfur fuels and liquefied natural gas has become an essential supplementary means to meet emission reduction requirements. This research considers the impact of government subsidies on port shore power construction and ship shore power use. It constructs a multi-period dual-objective port shore power deployment optimization model based on minimizing operating costs and minimizing CO2 emissions. Multi-combination subsidy strategies, including unit subsidy rate and subsidy demarcation line, are quantitatively described and measured. The proposed Epsilon constraint method is used to transform and model the dual-objective optimization problem. Numerical experiments verify the effectiveness of the model and the feasibility of the solution method. By carrying out a “cost-environment” Pareto trade-off analysis, a model multi-period change analysis, and a subsidy efficiency analysis, this research compares the decision-making results of port shore power construction, ship berthing shore power use, and ship berthing energy selection. Government subsidy strategy and operation management enlightenment in the optimization of port shore power deployment are discussed.

Research on data driven adaptive berthing method and technology

In this paper, a hardware architecture of real-time dynamic data collection is designed, and the method of direct motion control based on the feedback data is used to realize the automatic berthing of the ship. In this method, a ship-based microwave radar array is used to detect the relative position, attitude of the ship and distance from the berth shoreline. According to the precise definition of ship berthing state, an automatic berthing method composed of upper scheduling and lower control is proposed. The results of real ship experiments show that the method is feasible and practical.

Transmission Path Tracking of Maritime COVID-19 Pandemic via Ship Sailing Pattern Mining

Since the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the transportation of cargo by ship has been seriously impacted. In order to prevent and control maritime COVID-19 transmission, it is of great significance to track and predict ship sailing behavior. As the nodes of cargo ship transportation networks, ports of call can reflect the sailing behavior of the cargo ship. Accurate hierarchical division of ports of call can help to clarify the navigation law of ships with different ship types and scales. For typical cargo ships, ships with deadweight over 10,000 tonnages account for 95.77% of total deadweight, and 592,244 berthing ships’ records were mined from automatic identification system (AIS) from January to October 2020. Considering ship type and ship scale, port hierarchy classification models are constructed to divide these ports into three kinds of specialized ports, including bulk, container, and tanker ports. For all types of specialized ports (considering ship scale), port call probability for corresponding ship type is higher than other ships, positively correlated with the ship deadweight if port scale is bigger than ship scale, and negatively correlated with the ship deadweight if port scale is smaller than ship scale. Moreover, port call probability for its corresponding ship type is positively correlated with ship deadweight, while port call probability for other ship types is negatively correlated with ship deadweight. Results indicate that a specialized port hierarchical clustering algorithm can divide the hierarchical structure of typical cargo ship calling ports, and is an effective method to track the maritime transmission path of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ship Berthing Safety Assessment Based on Ship-Handling Simulator

As the development of ship building technologies, ships have been becoming larger and larger. As a result, the existing ports and waterways can not meet the requirements of safe navigation, berthing and unberthing operations of large ships. In order to ensure the safe berthing and unberthing for large ships, wharf and waterways need to be rebuilt, also it is necessary to check whether the rebuilt wharf can meet the navigation needs. In this paper, the ship handling simulator is used to simulate the safe berthing and unberthing of the pier. This paper establishes the mathematical model of ship motions, generates virtual navigation environment, applies the concepts of track zone width, potential ship handling water area, utility function and risk of berthing operation, and makes a comprehensive analysis of the width of the channel, ship manoeuvring waters and the safety of berthing operation, and puts forward some objective and reasonable suggestions on the safety of berthing. By practical application of ship-handling simulator to evaluate the safety of ship berthing and unberthing, it shows that the method based on ship-handling simulator is objective, feasible and reasonable to analyze and evaluate the navigation safety of wharf engineering, and has a good value of application.

Utilization of Cargo Handling Facilities in Nigerian Seaports

Cargo handling operations are critical to port efficiency. Optimal utilization of cargo handling capacity is a challenge facing most ports in Nigeria and this has had an adverse effect on port operation (i.e. ship and cargo operation). This paper assessed the extent of utilization of cargo handling facilities and infrastructure performance in Nigerian ports. It applied indicators of port facility service and utilization to examine usage of facilities & infrastructure as well as significant constraining factors in six ports namely: Apapa, Tincan, Rivers, Onne, Delta and Calabar ports. The secondary data for the study comprised cargo and vessel throughputs handled in the ports, number of facilities & infrastructure and berth performance measures for the period between years 2006 and 2017. These were augmented with primary data on factors affecting port facility utilization obtained through copies questionnaires administered to a random sample of port users. Our Empirical findings using statistical models showed that on the average, vessels that called for service in the ports spent one and half day before being allocated to berths; spent four days (4) at berth and a total of six (6) days at the port before sailing outwards. In terms of berth utilization for all ports, we found that ship berths were on average, fourty-eight percent (48%) occupied during the study period. When disaggregated by respective ports, berth vacancy rates were higher in Delta ports and Calabar ports in comparison to others; while Apapa, Rivers and Tincan ports had comparatively higher berth occupancy rates. According to the respondents, significant impeding factors to facility utilization and performance were: obsolete plant & equipment, inadequate number of cargo handling equipment, delays in cargo handling procedures and low investments in cargo handling facilities by the terminal operators. Policy implications of the findings were discussed.

Artificial Neural Network Controller for Automatic Ship Berthing Using Separate Route

The operation of ships in the port area requires not only the assistance of in-vessel equipment such as main engines and rudder, but also the assistance of external equipment such as tugboats. The complexity in the operation of ships in the port, requires control algorithm with multiple input and output for the automatic berthing control of the ship. The entering and leaving data of the ship can help the algorithm to efficiently control the berthing and un-berthing process of ships. This is based on the artificial intelligence which has been continuously approaching the operating habits of the pilot. The advances in artificial intelligence can control the entering, turning, and berthing in the port by artificial intelligence. In this study, the artificial neural network algorithm has been used to establish an automatic berthing model, based on the scheduled route. With the help of training data of one port, this model can be applied to the ship’s berthing with different berth layouts. Furthermore, it can also be applied to complex systems such as direct or turning-berthing of a ship. Finally, the automatic berthing model has been used for the simulation of direct berthing and turning-berthing in different berth.

Artificial Neural Network controller for automatic ship berthing: challenges and opportunities

Ship berthing is a complicated manoeuvring process that demands precise control of the speed and course of an under-actuated system. As berthing involves low speed running of a ship under environmental disturbances with reduced manoeuvrability, a professional ship handler often faces difficulties in controlling heading in such a situation. To bring automation in ship berthing, most of the researchers have agreed that Artificial Neural Network (ANN) plays a vital role as it has the ability to learn from human experience and replicate similar action in an unknown situation. However, we are still far away from implementing it for real berthing control as we do not have any self-fulfilling ANN controller yet, which can treat all the major issues relevant to a complicated ship berthing operation. Based on contemporary research findings, this paper, therefore, highlights four major challenges that have to be taken into account while proposing an ANN controller for ship berthing, and a comprehensive summary of how to deal with those. The first is how to provide consistent teaching data while training ANN controller to make it more robust; second is how to make the controller universal to do berthing in any port; third is how to tackle the wind disturbances while automation in progress; and the fourth is how to align a ship to the pier, which is the final stage of berthing.

Experimental study on individual walking speed during emergency evacuation with the influence of ship motion

Ship motion is an important influencing factor in passenger ship evacuation that affects the entire evacuation process by reducing an individual’s walking speed. This study aims to quantify such effects in ship berthing and sailing operations by collecting experimental data to support passenger ship evacuation decisions. The study utilized Dalian Maritime University’s training ship to conduct human walking experiments to study the influence of ship motion on passengers’ normal and fast walking speeds. It was found that during the berthing period, an individual’s normal walking speed was 1.28–1.68 m/s, and the fast walking speed was 1.50–2.14 m/s. During the sailing, the ship’s rolling motion reduced the normal walking speed by 3.8%–10.3% and the fast walking speed by 3.7%–14.0%. Due to the influence of ship rolling, the higher the deck and the farther away the rolling centre is, the smaller the athwartship and fore-aft walking speeds. Athwartship walking was slightly faster than fore-aft walking. Similarly, in the normal walking mode, the athwartship walking speed was 1.6%–3.7% faster than fore-aft walking, while in the fast walking mode, the athwartship walking speed was 0.8%–4.9% faster than fore-aft walking. Furthermore, during the berthing period, the average walking speed of the younger group was 24.1% higher than that of the older group. Finally, during the sailing, the speed reduction ratio of an individual’s walking speed was 86.0%–96.2%, and the value decreased as the deck height increased.

Evaluating Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on China’s Container Ports Based on AIS Big Data

To quantitatively analyse the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on China’s container ports, the berthing ships are mainly investigated by the big data of Automatic Identification System (AIS). First, the methods of AIS data acquisition, cleaning and statistical analysis are introduced. Then the sample ports of Shanghai, Ningbo-Zhoushan and Tianjin are selected, and the monthly ratios of key indicators such as the number of berthing ships and berthing time are calculated by AIS analysis system. Finally, the numerical results show that although the COVID-19 epidemic does not significantly affect the number of container ships arriving at China’s ports, it has a significant impact on the average berthing time of container ships.

Investigation of a Multitasking System for Automatic Ship Berthing in Marine Practice Based on an Integrated Neural Controller

In this article, a multitasking system is investigated for automatic ship berthing in marine practices, based on artificial neural networks (ANNs). First, a neural network with separate structures in hidden layers is developed, based on a head-up coordinate system. This network is trained once with the berthing data of a ship in an original port to conduct berthing tasks in different ports. Then, on the basis of the developed network, an integrated mechanism including three negative signs is linked to achieve an integrated neural controller. This controller can bring the ship to a berth on each side of the ship in different ports. The whole system has the ability to berth for different tasks without retraining the neural network. Finally, to validate the effectiveness of the proposed system for automatic ship berthing, numerical simulations were performed for berthing tasks, such as different ports, and berthing each side of the ship. The results indicate that the proposed system shows a good performance in automatic ship berthing.

Anti-Fog Imaging and Ship Positioning and Berthing Method Based on Solar-Blind Ultraviolet Optical Electronic Signal

The foggy environment, particularly in the dense fog, would significantly weaken the general optical imaging capability. In such condition, common optical imaging methods could hardly recognize targets and self-position in an effective manner, severely impacting ship berthing operation. Targeted at ship berthing in foggy days and based on zero background interference of solar-blind ultraviolet (UV) optical electronic signal, calibration and imaging positioning method based on solar-blind UV imagers were studied here, achieving three-dimension positioning with high precision. Direct imaging and accurate positioning for assisting in ship berthing could be realized at the same time. In this article, local positioning effect in the foggy environment was evaluated by applying solar-blind UV imaging band. The measurement results verify that accurate positioning could be achieved in the foggy environment by solar-blind UV anti-fog imaging positioning approach to satisfy demands of ship berthing in foggy days.

Laser-Based Aid Systems for Berthing and Docking

The berthing of an ultra large ship is always a difficult issue and becomes yet more complex when vessels must be handled in restricted manoeuvring areas of limited depth, exposed to a forceful crosswind, or manoeuvring in a strong current, or all three. The final approaching manoeuvre and precise positioning is particularly demanding at container terminals where many STS cranes are located along the quay, seriously limiting margin for error in the process of mooring a ship, especially when the cranes are located nearby a bridge wing or at the very edge of the pier. In order to avoid collisions, the final manoeuvre (side-push) must be fully controlled; the ship’s orientation must be parallel with the quay while maintaining the minimum lateral approaching velocity without significantly shifting the vessel longitudinally. The mooring of a Ro-Ro vessel is occasionally even more challenging: a precise docking manoeuvre is normally executed without any towing assistance. In this paper low cost laser-based berthing and docking systems developed for the ports of Koper and Swinousce are presented and several berthing manoeuvres are analysed and compared with the most commonly used GNSS-based navigational aid system portable pilot units (PPU).

Tam Ölçekli Yanal Yükleme Testinin Sayısal Modellemesi

Ports are very important structures at the national and international sea transportation. These structures are also in a critical position on economy and commerce capacity by providing shipping and distribution services. It is very important to design a port structure, considering its stability and resistance along its service time. In the design of this type of structure, the lateral loads caused by during ship berthing, wind and wave loads etc. can be more important compared with vertical loads. The design and the performance of a port structure foundation should be investigated by full scale field tests considering the service loads. The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of the steel pipe pile under lateral load by full scale in-situ loading tests at Mersin International Port Construction area in the Mediterranean Sea. Full scale pile lateral loading test (PLLT) on a single offshore pile has been conducted at the project site and the test pile has been loaded up to 2 times the service load with 4 loading-unloading cycles. In addition, a numerical analysis has been performed to simulate the real lateral load-deflection behavior by using Plaxis 3D finite element software. It has been observed that, the analysis results obtained from the numerical model has been reflected the test pile lateral load-displacement behavior with good convergence.