Mooring line management (SOLAS II-1/3-8, Circ.1620)

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When a mooring line parts under load, it recoils along and beyond its own line of tension, faster than anyone can move. Mooring is one of the most dangerous routine jobs on deck, and IMO’s own guidance now asks for every mooring area to be treated as a potential snap-back zone.

Lines rarely fail without warning. They wear, chafe, fuse, age in the sun and are overloaded by brakes set too tight or by fittings that are too weak for them. Since 1 January 2024 SOLAS regulation II-1/3-8 requires every ship, new or old, to inspect and maintain its mooring equipment, including the lines, in a suitable condition, with IMO guidelines that describe how.

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In this lesson

Try it: The new mooring lines arrive
In plain words
In detail
What the rules say
Flag and class notes
Key numbers
What inspectors find
Questions people ask
Quiz: 6 questions

Sources

1 IMO MSC.1/Circ.1620, Guidelines for inspection and maintenance of mooring equipment including lines (24 December 2020), Annex, sections 2 to 6. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/Documents/MSC.1-Circ.1620%20-.pdf
2 IMO MSC.1/Circ.1619, Guidelines on the design of mooring arrangements and the selection of appropriate mooring equipment and fittings for safe mooring (11 December 2020), Annex, sections 5 and 6. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/Documents/MSC.1-Circ.1619%20-.pdf
3 IMO MSC.1/Circ.1175/Rev.1, Revised guidance on shipboard towing and mooring equipment (9 December 2020), Annex, sections 4 and 5. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/Documents/MSC.1-Circ.1175-Rev.1.pdf
4 IMO Resolution MSC.474(102), amendments to SOLAS (adopted 11 November 2020, in force 1 January 2024), regulation II-1/3-8. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MSCResolutions/MSC.474(102).pdf
5 ABS Regulatory News, Amendments to SOLAS: safe mooring of ships (December 2022), application and section C, all in-service ships. https://ww2.eagle.org/content/dam/eagle/regulatory-news/2023/Regulatory%20News%20-%20Safe%20mooring%20of%20ships.pdf
6 DNV, New SOLAS requirements for safe mooring (2022), typical findings. https://www.dnv.com/news/2022/new-solas-requirements-for-safe-mooring-229703/
7 German Flag (BG Verkehr), Safety Bulletin 01-2021, Safe mooring equipment. https://deutsche-flagge.de/de/redaktion/dokumente/ism-rundschreiben/circ2021_2_2_en.pdf/@@download/file/SB_2021-1_Safe%20Mooring%20Equipment.pdf

Free awareness training. Al Safwan Marine is not an approved training provider, so no certificate is given, and these courses are not a qualification. They don't replace STCW training, manufacturer training or the certification technicians need for this work. The manufacturer's manual and your flag's rules always come first.

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