Commercial Port – Local Notice to Mariners No. 03/06

Dated 25 th May 2006

Use of Self Tension Winches in Portsmouth Commercial Port

 

  1. Notice is Hereby Given that
    2. due caution must be exercised when using automatic self tensioning winches as part of the vessels mooring arrangements when left in the unattended mode after the mooring party has stood down.

  2. Incidents have occurred in the past when these winches have not been set at the correct tension and have "paid out" the mooring line in small increments, as the weight on them increased above the set level. This has resulted in the vessel drifting off the berth, pulling the gangway out and in an extreme case, completely breaking away from the berth.

  3. The use of standing lines regularly attended to and made fast to a set of bitts, or on the drum with the brake hard on, to act as a "preventer", is highly recommended.

 

Captain Rupert Taylor

Harbour Master

Portsmouth Commercial Port