Postquarter-Point Case of Ship’s Side-Berthing and Its Influence on Marine Fender Pitch

This paper presents a critical analysis of some selected codes and practical recommendations used as basic rules in the design procedures of modern marine fender systems. The first part of the discussion pertains to the existing equations used in calculating the eccentricity coefficient in the ship’s kinetic energy equation and the maximum allowable fender pitch (spacing) in a set of fenders installed along a quay wall. A new approach for the single-fender ship-to-fender contact mode during the side-berthing procedure is introduced, assuming three different special cases (i.e., the prequarter-point case, the quarter-point case, and the postquarter-point case) of the relative position of the ship’s hull with respect to the compressed fender unit. New equations are proposed for the maximum allowable fender pitch and the extreme berthing angles associated with the postquarter-point case of the single-fender and two-fender contact modes. Taking a ferry contact with an MV-type (or π-type) modular fender as an example, a detailed computational analysis has been performed, illustrating permissible geometrical ship-fender-quay configurations and their influence on the eccentricity coefficient, and, consequently, on the effective kinetic energy of a berthing ship.