Nor-Shipping: mooring rope assessment as a software service

From 1 January 2024, following the new IMO Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) MSC.1/Circ. 1620 regulation, all vessels will be required to have a Line Management Plan (LMP).

The LMP forms part of the Mooring System Management Plan, which is designed to ensure the entire mooring system is inspected, maintained and operated in accordance with the original vessel design.

The OCIMF Ship Inspection Report Programme, SIRE 2.0, also utilises many of the key OCIMF MEG4 concepts in its questionnaires, including a strong focus on the LMP.

In addition, trade association Intertanko has also adopted some of the OCIMF MEG4 recommendations, as has the RightShip Inspection Ship Questionnaire.

To aid and encourage seafarers’ familiarity with inspecting mooring ropes, the Wilhelmsen Ship Services LMP has an app to optimise safety and make life easier for crews by providing a holistic overview of all ropes on board and rope usage, so that vessels always comply with the rules.

The app includes an AI model that can be used by crew to detect the level of external abrasion on mooring lines and tails. The crew uploads a picture of the worst part of the rope being inspected and the tool will provide the crew with the condition of external abrasion using a traffic light system on the rope as either poor (red), medium (amber) or good (green).

The app has been trained on more than 1,000 different types of images of ropes, and Wilhelmsen Ship Services believes the confidence level is about 85%. The tool trains itself, improving its accuracy and recognising the types of damage.

In addition, the subscription app provides a single place to store all rope certificates and provides an immediate overview of inventory – rope location, mooring hours from every port call, and latest and upcoming inspections.