When a mooring rope holding a docked vessel snaps, the rope can whip across the dock and ship at almost 500 mph — more than twice the speed of a race car.
Mooring is one of the most dangerous pieces of port and vessel operations. In one case, a 602-foot bulk carrier fully loaded with petroleum coke ran aground in California after breaking free from its moorings.
To help hold vessels in place, Maersk has begun installing Snap Back Arrestor (SBA) ropes on the mooring lines.
Maersk chose Norwegian manufacturer TIMM ROPES, which offered a new kind of mooring rope, one with a special core that elongates more than