Catenary Effect on Horizontal Pull, Yaw and Damping

[capnsensible]

Thats great! Self organising structures doesnt feature much for me but wow, what an effect from that screenshot.

Now you have me wondering. were they actually given designated anchoring positions by Cherbourg VTS? Traffic around the Channel is well regulated so is that a possibility/

I know for sure that the bunker anchorage to the west of Gib has designated positions although rarely quite so busy.

So I looked at a few other anchorages around. Ive mentioned already ones I know like east of Malta and either end of the Panama Canal. So with vessel finder, I re visited those plus places like Singapore and Shanghai, huge anchorages full of ships.

'Chaos Theory' springs to mind! Be interested to know your thoughts on that?

 

[NormanS]

Where I live, the ship anchorages in the Firth are all designated by the port authority, so obviously they are in a pattern, something just like that.

 

[capnsensible]

Just had a look on vesselfinder. Theres some big ships there, anchored quite a way out. Is there a refinery up there? Some have posted 'waiting for orders' so perhaps they have discharged crude?

 

[JumbleDuck]

Just had a look on vesselfinder. Theres some big ships there, anchored quite a way out. Is there a refinery up there? Some have posted 'waiting for orders' so perhaps they have discharged crude?

I'm told that it's not uncommon for crude carriers to hang around until the spot price is judged to be at its most profitable.

 

[capnsensible]

Gas ships do that too. Often see a few on the west side of Gibraltar Bay at anchor for sometimes a week or more. Great in June time when theres normally loadsa fog........ One short, one long, one short. Better by far than bells and gongs.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I'm told that it's not uncommon for crude carriers to hang around until the spot price is judged to be at its most profitable.

I once did some work for a commodity trader and quite often the destination on the bill of lading was "the high seas"

I was not unknown for the commodity on the ship to be sold and resold so the destination of the ship would change on route.

 

[andsarkit]

Some years ago I had some measurement equipment on a BP VLCC that anchored in Lyme Bay for over 3 months waiting for the price of oil in Rotterdam to go up. It was just outside the 12 mile limit so the crew would be considered offshore for tax purposes.
Used the Brixham pilots to go out and visit them every month.
Never seemed to have a problem with dragging but the captain did say they had to be stationary when dropping the anchor as 200,000tons of slowly moving VLCC still has a lot of momentum which could rip out the deck winches.
This also explains why they cannot anchor when the engines fail unless there is very little current and they are not moving over the seabed.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Never seemed to have a problem with dragging but the captain did say they had to be stationary when dropping the anchor as 200,000tons of slowly moving VLCC still has a lot of momentum which could rip out the deck winches.
This also explains why they cannot anchor when the engines fail unless there is very little current and they are not moving over the seabed.

Clearly they need to use old climbing ropes as snubbers.