Good morning Nick I hope you have slept well what a busy day yesterday huh the
cargo transfer is completed and the cargo surveyors have started checking
the cargo tanks and calculating the quality the cargo hoses are now being
disconnected from the Mary's manifolds they are drained blanked off and lifted
onboard the Rio as they are going to attend one more SCS operation after this
one as soon as the crew is available the fenders should be shifted from the Mary
to the Rio we will go to the deck and assist the crew demonstrating how this
should be done this will be a good opportunity for you to pick up a
valuable knowledge
but first we have a meeting with the master and the chief officer of the
merry at 6 o'clock to check that everything is ready for unmooring and
then we can fill in and get a confirmation of sts checklist number 5
just before we commence with the operation at 6:30
so now let's discuss the unmooring principles can you tell me which of the
mooring lines you think we should let go of first good
the time is almost 5:30 a.m. now so let's go to the bridge and meet with the
master and the duty navigational officer good morning gentlemen
good morning okay let's go through the unmooring plans as you know the Rio
awaits another cargo transfer here in transfer Bay and therefore Michael the
master at the Rio suggested we do the unmooring at anchor
you know & Moring with one ship at anchor can be complicated for several
reasons for instance the wind can be unfavorable in combination with tide
Curren can cause problems
interaction can occur between the two ships and local conditions and ship
configurations can complicate things as well
generally you should never use this method during change of tide we have
very low winds and stream here at the moment
my concern is to get enough energy in between the ships to create a separating
force I think there is a risk of us colliding
therefore I will go from mooring with both ships underway
if we follow the normal procedure we will be starting with the wind and see
on the port side then we bring the combined to ship system to headwind in
order to get energy in between the ships to spread them apart
after disengaging it is essential that neither of the vessels attempt to steam
ahead or fall astern of the other until both ships are well separated as soon as
we are clear let's say at a distance of approximately 300 metres we inform the
Rio that we are clear and both vessels can navigate independently
okay good
as soon as we are finished here I will inform the REO about the intended
maneuvers regarding the unmooring the forward gang should start by letting go
of the forward Springs and then the bow lines
next the after gang will let go of the stern lines and finally the after
Springs
David will you take a copy of this unmooring plan and give the information
to the second and third officer yes no problem we know this procedure
very good then I will contact Michael on the Brio to inform him and his crew
about the unmooring plans
see you all here again soon okay we are almost ready for the unmooring
now
I have agreed with the master of the Rio to commence the unmooring at 6:30 before
I give the start signal I want to be sure that sufficient personnel is
allocated to the mooring stations and that they have all been given a thorough
explanation of the unmooring procedures
can you confirm this David
yes Peter we also train them in the toggle pin technique as you required and
I've just checked the communication with the mooring gangs
good and all the necessary equipment has been checked and is at hand
sure and the cargo transfer side is cleared and what about shipping traffic
it has been checked and there are no potential problems okay then I will
complete sts checklist number five and get it confirmed before I give signal to
commence unmooring hi Michael superintendent Peter y Anson here we
have the right speed now and the wind in on port bow
are you ready for unmooring
hi Peter yes all men are on their posts and ready for action
as you can see we follow the most common method of unmooring
as the maneuvering ship we now have to move clear of the Rio it's very
important to adopt utmost care during letting go of the last lines
I have ordered use of the toggle pins first they heave in on the messenger and
then remove the mooring lines from the bits when they slacked the messenger
line the toggle will release itself and the messenger will be freed so the
mooring line can slide through the fairlead over the side
with this method two lines can be released at the same time when the last
mooring is gone we will turn the vessel slowly to port to have the wind dead
ahead in order to split the vessels now we are
free of the REO but it's still essential to coordinate the manoeuvres and the
speed should not exceed six knots before we are at a safe distance
congratulations you have now completed your first STS transfer operation
without failing but we still have some time before we can sign off so I'll
suggest we make a thorough evaluation of the complete operation