Safety System for Ships in Harbours

Abstract

SAFEPORT safety system aims at forecasting and alerting, on a regular basis, emergency situations regarding ships operation in port areas caused by extreme weather-oceanographic conditions. It uses forecasts provided offshore of the area under study of sea agitation, wind and tide. The characterization of the response of the free and moored ships at a berth is performed using the numerical package SWAMS. The system issue alerts, through danger levels associated with risk levels of exceedance of recommended values for movements and forces imposed on ship mooring systems. SAFEPORT can be adapted to any port. So far, it has been developed and adapted to three terminals of the port of Sines, where three different ships were simulated. This paper presents the developments made to date of the safety system, which includes tests performed in storm situations. The numerical models run every day, in real-time mode, in a computer cluster and the system provide forecast results for the next 72 hours. The results are disseminated on a web page and a mobile application in a variety of formats. It was concluded that the SAFEPORT safety system issued alerts according to the observed reality during the storm Dora. It has also been shown to be a computer tool for the optimization of ship mooring systems. The system is currently in testing and validation phase therefore, forecasts should be interpreted as indicative.

Validation and Application of the Accu-Waves Operational Platform for Wave Forecasts at Ports

“…The downscaling level of its wave and current forecasts reaches a resolution of dx = 10-100 m, leading to a detailed evaluation of water depths along navigation channels. Pinheiro et al [50] recently initiated an EWS for ship safety in Port of Sines (Portugal), called SAFEPORT, aiming at forecasting and alerting vessel operators about emergencies due to extreme weather conditions. It incorporates large-scale forecasts in the offshore area to feed wave agitation, wind, and tide simulation models based on combined SWAN/WAM spectral wave models and DREAMS [51], a linear finite element model based on the mild slope equation [52] used to simulate the propagation of monochromatic waves in port basins.…”