Measurement of vertical motions of bulk carriers navigating in port entrance channels

Abstract

This paper presents a description of a decision support system for ship draught allowance, in operation at the Port of Richards Bay, South Africa. This system is partially based on small-scale and numerical model tests, which were verified by local measurements of ship motions with simultaneous recording of tide, wave and ship conditions. The measured wave parameters include the wave height, period and direction. Based on these relationships, the maximum safe draught for Richards Bay can be determined as a function of tide, waves, ship size and ship speed. This is implemented in the PC-based DMAX system