SOME PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF ANCHORING LARGE SHIPS

This paper describes work carried out in the Department of Maritime Studies at UWIST to investigate anchoring practice. It was prompted, in the first instance, by concern for the apparently large number of anchor and cable failures being experienced by VLCCs. The approach adopted was entirely practical. Its aim was to shed some light on the operational factors which ought to be taken into account in the design of anchoring systems. A large number of anchoring system failures were investigated and anchoring operations were witnessed on several large vessels, following which several areas of weakness were identified. These include, in particular, the measurement of speed over the ground during anchoring, the design of windlass braking arrangements, and crew training.