Another Windy Day - Another High Risk Manoeuvre

The number of windy days seems to be increasing. Risk assessments can deal with limits and measures, but what’s it like berthing a ship right on those limits? Barry discusses where the risks can quickly escalate, what to look out for and what it’s like to use tugs on high power. With 24 years piloting experience Barry is able to talk in depth about these and other challenges that pilots face every time stormy conditions grace the UK. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome everyone. My name is Barry Sadler, and welcome to the Maritime Education Podcast. Coming to you from the south coast of the UK and focusing today on windy conditions. So here we are about to sail a 60,000 tonne tanker from SO4 in Hampshire, as you can hear. The wind is very high, justing about 30 knots. We've got two tugs for departure, and when those tugs arrive, we'll be using them to assist us off the berth. The manoeuvre is within the risk assessment for this berth. However, we do have to be careful because there are extra risks involved in trying to manoeuvre the ship. We'll continue the podcast from the quiet of the studio, but in the meantime, let's get going with the manoeuvre. Back in the relative peace and quiet of the studio, you could hear there as I was recording on the bridge wing of that tanker that the winds were very, very high and that the planned manoeuvre was about to go ahead. The manoeuvre that I was talking about in that little clip is within the risk assessment for the berth that I was coming off of, and based upon the freeboard of the tanker and the power of the tugs involved, a manoeuvre which it was safe to conduct in what was a relatively high wind speed. The frequency of relatively high wind speeds, I mean when I mean relatively high wind speeds, I'm probably talking above 30 knots. Yep, up to 30 knots, and we can probably call that a breezy day. But once we start to gust over 30 knots, relatively high wind speeds make us think very, very carefully about our ship handling. And the frequency of high winds regularly gusting above 30 knots is on the rise. I don't think you'll speak to many mariners who will disagree with that. And I've been a pilot now for 24 years, and when I first arrived in the port in 2000, the wind speeds, although we used to have our storms, were not as frequent as they are now, and certainly weren't as consistent as they are now. We would have still have storms come through during the winter months, but when those storms arrived they would normally be short-lived, the storm would push through fairly quickly, and then there would be a period of respite until the next one. Feels at the moment that we're going for an era where there is highwind after highwind after high wind, storm after storm. We're working our way through the alphabet of named storms in the UK rapidly each year. The United Kingdom Met Office decided to name their storms some years ago, and this was in general to bring the attention of the highwinds to the general public and in order to raise awareness of the fact that these high winds were on their way. Forecasting has become very, very difficult for the Met Office, and naming storms gives the Met Office a little bit of leeway when it comes to the exact prediction of these storms. Most modern forecasting is based upon models, and models are based upon data, data collected over not just tens or scores of years, but in some cases over hundreds of years. Meteorological data is one of the greatest amounts of data available to us, and computers are employed by MetOffices all over the world to be able to take this data and use this data to produce different models. This means that when a synoptic situation comes along, and a synoptic situation is where we have high pressures and low pressures and storms moving along, when a synoptic situation comes along, then the model is able to use the data to analyze what's happening and help forecasters predict on the strength and direction of the winds as those storms pass across. Global warming, amongst other things, has disrupted the Earth's atmospherics and the Earth's pressure patterns and the seasons to a certain extent, and therefore if we look at the models and the data that those models have collected over the many many years, we are moving away from those models. Forecasting is changing. Forecasting can no longer be solely based upon what has happened in the past. Because of global warming, we are seeing changes to our weather patterns that mean that the models that are used to predict are slowly becoming more and more inaccurate as new weather patterns form. We can no longer base the forecast of our weather on what happened over the last hundred years. We need to base the forecast for our weather on what's happened over the last couple of years. This has made some forecasting inaccurate, and this is something that we've got to take into account when we're talking about high winds and planning for high winds. When high winds are forecast, it's important for everybody to recognise, particularly the captain and the pilot, that onboard stress levels will be a lot higher than they are when manoeuvring the ship in good conditions. I find this a lot as pilot. When I get on board a ship and we have high winds of the forecast, or we're already maneuvering in high winds, the atmosphere on the bridge changes. Hopefully, the master is relatively experienced and can deal with the extra stress that high winds bring upon the maneuver. But certainly, officer of the watch, junior officers, ratings, helmsmen can all become quite affected by the high winds when it comes to the stress levels and the bridge resource management on the bridge. And this is something for everybody to bear in mind, especially those of you that are very, very experienced. Just because you are in control of the vessel and have faith and confidence in the maneuver doesn't mean that everybody around you shares the same mental picture. And it's therefore doubly important during heavy weather that you share your intentions with the bridge team and you reassure the bridge team that you are confident of the outcome of those intentions and those actions, and that tugs, engines, thrusters can all deal with the high wind speeds that are being experienced. Do take the time to look around the bridge. Look at how people are behaving. What I find, particularly with the Officer of the Watch and perhaps more newly promoted captains, is that the level of feedback and support goes down. So people become naturally quiet because they are slightly afraid of the heavy weather and the maneuver coming up. They are concerned and they are running thoughts through their heads. So if you're maneuvering a ship and everybody around you appears to be quiet, appears to be overly concentrating on something and not giving the maneuver their all, then reassure them. Let them know that everything is under control. Obviously, if it's not under control and the wind has picked up to the extent where we can no longer safely handle the ship, then we are going to have to put in place measures to ensure that any damage, if it does occur, is minimal. This may require a different approach, may require very, very direct instructions being given with authority in order to get things done to minimize the impact of heavy weather. We should never really be in a position where we're maneuvering the ship in conditions where we lose control of the ship. Risk assessments on berthing and unbirthing should be conducted both on board the ship and ashore in port facilities, so that the various berths and the various ships that frequent the port are risk assessed, wind limits set, numbers of tugs agreed, so that when that ship approaches in a certain condition, we refer to the risk assessment. We either say this is possible with X number of tugs, or we say no, above a certain wind speed, we are not going to attempt that maneuver because our risk assessment shows that we cannot physically put in place enough measures to ensure that the maneuver is safe. So we do our best not to get to the stage where the maneuver frightens everybody so much that the bridge team becomes ineffective, or that the maneuver is done in such bad conditions that even with large tugs and perhaps extra tugs being ordered, we are unable to control the ship safely and therefore unable to control the approach to or away from the berth. Sometimes we get a bit overfixated with the actual birthing of the ship. Can we safely birth or unbirth the ship? And it's worth bearing in mind here that it's not just the berthing that we need to think about, it's the actual passage to the berth that may give us the problems. In Southampton, we have some pretty nasty turns that we have to negotiate, and those turns can be almost impossible in certain wind speeds and directions. And so, whilst the berthing and unbirthing manoeuvre is perhaps of the highest risk due to the fact that we are effectively manoeuvring the ship next to some very, very hard bits of kit, and contact with it is more than likely going to cause damage to the ship. We can get in trouble on passage whilst trying to make large turns in gusty, strong winds where the ships may not be able to perform to the standard that we expect them to in good conditions. A good example is we have the West Bramble turn in Southampton, a 140-degree turn to starboard, inward bound. And basically that means forcing the stern up against the southwesterly gale if it's blowing. Now, if the ship is maneuverable, that happens fairly easily. We're able to drive the stern up against quite a lot of wind, 40 perhaps even 45 knots. But on a less maneuverable ship, and especially with a ship with less engine power, it can be difficult to turn the ship and get the stern to move upwind. So berthing and unberthing the ship in heavy weather is normally going to be done with the use of tugs and probably extra tugs than we are used to using. It's really important to understand that even though we can use many tugs on a ship, that the tugs themselves have their individual limitations. One individual limitation is, of course, the bollard pull of the tug. Now, bollard pulls are given in tons, and pilots in particular will rate the strength of a tug not based upon its horsepower, but based upon its given bollard pull. The bollard pull of a tug is basically a certified figure where a tug will, under controlled conditions, put weight on the line until its engines are at maximum and it will read off the weight that it's able to pull, and that would be the bollard pull of the tug. It's almost a figure that we shouldn't really base too much upon. It can be a figure that we can use as a maximum, or indeed it can be a figure that we can use just to gauge the effectiveness of the tug under normal working conditions. Bollard pull is a rudimentary measurement of the strength of a tug, and the actual bollard pull figure isn't something we can rely upon. The main reason for that is that bollard pull figures are generally obtained under very, very good conditions and not under the stressful difficult conditions that heavy weather may place upon the tug as it tries to maneuver itself into the prime position for putting weight on its line. The bollard pull figure of a tug is literally the figure that is given with the tug pulling on its line against a static fixed object in relatively good conditions. Put that tug on a moving object in poor conditions, and it's unlikely to be able to exert the bollard pull that it can. Bollard pull as well is not the maximum amount of weight that we can put on a line. A tug acting indirectly on the back of a ship can put much more than the bollard pull figure on the line by steering against the flow of the ship. This can assist a ship in turning, and tankers and very large container vessels in Southampton will always have an escort tug, and that escort tug must be capable of indirect towing to assist by putting weight on the line to port or starboard by turning the tug against the direction of flow and using the flow of water to produce much more than the given bollard pull of the tug of weight on that line. So bollard pull is almost an arbitrary figure to give us an idea of the power of the tug. Regardless of the bollard pull of the tug, we may not be able to use that tug at its full bollard pull strength due to the safe working load of the bits on the ship. It's amazing that some 400 meter container ships have safe working loads on their bits as small as 70 tonnes. This is a relatively small number to have as a safe working load on a ship that big. When manoeuvring big 400 meter ships in the port of Southampton, we will regularly use tugs that are in excess of 70 tonnes, 80, 85 tonnes being good examples. And therefore, we have to tell the tug skipper that the safe working load of the bits is actually less than the bolar pull of the tug. We have a duty to do this to let the tug skipper know, but this will always be in the back of the tugskipper's mind. And if you ask for full weight during a heavy maneuver in high winds, you'll only get the safe working load of the bits, and even then the tug skipper and quite rightly may keep a little bit up his sleeve just in case those bits show too much strain. Using a tug on full power in heavy weather is sometimes necessary, but there is a couple of things to bear in mind when asking a tug for full weight. One is that you're unlikely to ever get that full bollard pull weight from the tug. Unless the tug's been used indirectly as described earlier on, then the tug's pull against the line on a moving object in poor conditions isn't going to equal the bollard pull. So even if the tug skipper does his best to apply full engine power to that line, you are unlikely to get the bollard pull of the tug. And this is something that you must take into account when trying to gauge. One, how many tugs to use, and two, whether the maneuver is still feasible. Bear that in mind. One of the really tricky things that I find with using a tug on full power is the amount of time it gets the tug takes the tug to get down from full. I generally use a quarter, half, three quarters, and full as my instructions to the tug when using them for manoeuvring. When I've asked for full weight, it sits that there in the back of my mind that I've got that tug on full weight. Because it's going to take a long time for that tugmaster to take that power off. He's not going to suddenly flick a lever and the power comes off instantly. Particularly on very, very big tugs exerting 80 to 100 tons bollard pull potential, when you are up on full, those engines are turning very, very hard, and it'll take a long time for that tugmaster to bring that engine speed back to stop. So if you are using a tug on full, bear in mind that if the ship starts to react or overreact to what you've asked that tug to do, that getting that power off is going to take time. This is particularly noticeable if we're using a tug on full to push a ship up against the quay side. The wind's strong off the shore, we're pushing with the tug, we ask the tug to push full, the wind's blowing hard, then all of a sudden the wind speed drops, the ship starts to move towards the key quicker than we would like because the wind gust has gone and the wind speed has suddenly dropped. Now we're asking the tug to reduce because we don't want to approach the berth too fast, and it takes that tug time to get the power off. That really is something to bear in mind. So using tugs on full, using lots of tugs, it's all well and good to have the numbers in front of you, but bear in mind the bollard pull of the tug may not be achieved. The safe working load of the ship's bits may be less than the tug bollard pull itself. And using a tug on full speed and full power means you've got to allow time for that tug to ease off. It has become a bit of a habit for me as a pilot to look at a weather forecast with a doubtful eye. And this has made me think twice about approaching births when the weather forecast is right on the limit of the risk assessment for that birth. It's almost as if the wind knows what the forecast is doing. And more often than not, the actual wind speeds experienced are higher than those that are forecast. So if you're thinking about a wind speed for aborting a particular maneuver, let's just give it an arbitrary 40 knots. Let's say we've drawn a line at 40 knots. If the wind is greater than 40 knots, you're not going to approach that berth. If you've got a forecast of 40 knots, you've got to watch that wind speed for hours leading up to the actual maneuver. Because if the wind is running higher than that that's forecast, chances are that trend will continue. It's not about just watching the wind speed prior to the maneuver, it's about watching it on the hours leading up to the maneuver to make sure it's following the forecast. And if it's not following the forecast, taking that into account when deciding either A, whether to do the maneuver or not, B how many tugs are required, or C exactly how to do the maneuver itself. Watch the wind on the lead up to it. Watch the wind overnight the day before. Look to see whether or not that forecasting model that we talked about earlier on is accurate, or whether that forecasting model leaves a bit to be desired. Getting a much higher gust during manoeuvring is something that as pilots, particularly those of us that have done it a long time, we're used to getting that. We've seen it before. But with the modelling becoming less accurate, the forecasting becoming less accurate, we as experienced mariners are watching these winds way, way in advance of the maneuver. We're following the patterns to make sure they match what the forecaster has told us. Because if they don't, then we have to take action and steps to either abort the maneuver, stop the ship coming in, order more tugs, perhaps choose a more favorable berth for the wind speed, or some other measure that we're going to put in place. Because once again, the winds that were forecast are less than the actual wind speeds that we're experiencing. As an experienced pilot, I never allow myself to be in a position where I look at myself and say, You knew that was going to happen. Hindsight's a wonderful thing. Watch the wind, watch the forecast, check the tugs you've got, check their bollard pull, look at what you're going to ask them to be doing. Check the safe working load of the bits on the ship. Make sure you are able to control the ship based upon the forecast that has been given and whether or not the actual wind speeds are following that forecast. Another thing to bear in mind, finally, before I go, is the ship's captain will always give a pilot a pilot card which will have on it the strength of the main engine and the strength of any thrusters that the ship has. Always ask the master if we can utilize the full amount of power that is quoted on that pilot card. So many times I've seen it where the captain has told me he's got a 2,000 horsepower bow thruster, but pilot, we can only use it to 80% because the chief engineer says that we can't use it at 100% because it will trip. That's a defect of the ship, but nonetheless, it's something that you may need to take into account. Another thing I was told recently on a large container ship was pilot, we are misfiring on one cylinder on the engine, and therefore we are down 15% on our engine power. Again, that's something to take into account, particularly when handling ships in heavy weather. When you're doing the calculation in your mind as to how much weight you need to exert on that ship to move it, take into account the fact that the ship's thrusters and main engines may not be operating at 100% efficiency. Ask the captain. Knowing the limitations of your own ship and letting the pilot know that limitation when you get on board is a much safer way of manoeuvring a ship in heavy weather. If the pilot has to find out that limitation, him or herself, whilst trying to berth the ship in stressful conditions, then that's the bad time to find out that the ship can't actually hold itself in 30 knots of wind. Thanks a lot for listening to our podcast on manoeuvring in heavy weather. I hope you found some of the facts, figures, opinions in there useful, and uh we look forward to speaking to you again in the very near future. In the meantime, do have a great day, everyone. Thanks for listening.