The physical principle that governs how ships are moored to a port has changed little over the years. Nevertheless, in recent decades, there have been developments in maritime transport towards increased vessel dimensions and operations in specialist terminals. These trends mean that offshore ports and mooring systems have to face more challenging conditions in terms of the waves, wind and drift current. At the same time, pier side port loading and unloading systems place demands on the mooring system, which must immobilise ships better. In this situation, the mooring system's own equipment, such as lines, deck fittings and mooring winches, must also evolve to work alongside new port devices. It is also necessary to point out that changes in mooring will take place in subsequent years. These innovations in attaching the ship to the pier will be highlighted here as they mark a significant change in mooring and pier components.

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Stricter guidelines, hand in hand with continuous technological advances, mean that vessels are safer and more efficient. At the same time, these changes make ships more complex and expensive. However, this is not the case with mooring equipment. Regulations vary in content, but have the same objective. They fail to improve the ships’ safety and prices are negatively affected. A vessel’s mooring system has to take into account various sets of regulations, including those of the country under whose flag it is sailing; the classification societies; ship owner associations and the terminal ports. This paper will analyse the contents of all these regulations in an attempt to find what they have in common. Its next purpose is to propose guidelines with unified contents. The proposal is to harmonise regulations that affect the mooring winch’s operation, design and construction. With standardised regulations, it would be possible to carry out a single design process and one calculation for components. These steps will be apt for every kind of project. By unifying this process, the final price of manufacturing equipment will be reduced.