The invention relates to a method for mooring a visiting ship to a resident ship or to shore, and to a ship to ship or ship to shore mooring system, comprising the use of an engaging system for berthing of the visiting ship. According to the prior art the engaging system is simply embodied in the form of mooring lines or shore lines.

Although throughout the application the terms visiting ship and resident ship are used, these terms should not be understood as restrictive in the sense that the mooring system as disclosed herein can only be used with a visiting ship and a resident ship. The invention also applies when it is used for mooring ships that are permanently in the area of applica tion, or to ships that are only temporarily in the area of application. The terms visiting ship and resident ship are only used to meet the requirements of the respective patent laws throughout the world that it should be clear that the visiting ship is another ship than the resident ship. The terms could therefore equally well be replaced by the terms first ship and second ship.

Mooring of ships to other ships or to shore is discussed on the website https : // w . arineinsight . com/marine- navigation/mooring-methods-ships / . On this website it is men tioned that each ship has been designed with mooring arrangements such that ropes and wires of recommended strength can help it moor safely alongside a berth, floating platform, buoy or a jetty. Fundamentally a ship has to be positioned along side a jetty or a berth, between mooring buoys, to a mooring buoy, to another ship or barge and then made fast using her own anchors, mooring lines or shore lines.

The said website mentions that some very common meth ods of mooring are Mediterranean mooring, Baltic mooring, run ning mooring, standing mooring, spider mooring buoys, single point or single buoy mooring, conventional or multi buoy moor ing, and ship to ship mooring. In the prior art method of ship to ship mooring, use is made of conventional mooring lines, which is however labo rious and time-consuming and can be unsafe.

W02013/180402 discloses a ship which on port and starboard is provided with guidelines that are usable for berthing of the ship. In one embodiment an unmanned driving apparatus is applied on which several target vessels can berth .

US 3,974,794 discloses a ship which on port and star board is provided with mooring arms, each of the mooring arms supporting a suction cup assembly.

US 5,676,085 discloses a vacuum operated mooring de vice consisting of a telescopic and lockable connecting arm. This connecting arm is intended to connect and hold apart at a distance one boat from another or a boat from a dock.

It is an object of the invention to provide an auto mated mooring system for ship to ship mooring or ship to shore mooring so as to increase personal safety and make mooring more efficient.

It is also an object of the invention to provide such an automated mooring system which is insensitive to height differences of the ships involved in the ship to ship mooring, and insensitive to tidal harbour water level variations.

It is a further object of the invention to provide such an automated mooring system which may be applied without converting the ships to be moored to being used with this au tomated system.

According to the invention a ship to ship or ship to shore mooring system and a method for mooring a visiting ship to a resident ship or to shore is proposed as well as a mooring vessel which can be used in conjunction therewith, having the features of one or more of the appended claims.

In a first embodiment of the method of mooring ac cording to the invention wherein a visiting ship is moored to a resident ship, a mooring vessel or vessels are moved to engage the visiting ship, where after the resident ship is moved towards the visiting ship on a side where the mooring vessel or vessels have engaged the visiting ship in order to enable that subsequently the mooring vessel or vessels engage the resident ship to complete berthing of the visiting ship. Eve rywhere where in the previous sentence the concepts 'resident ship' and 'visiting ship' are used, the resident ship could be replaced by visiting ship and vice versa. As will be clear from the foregoing, an essential aspect of this first embodi ment of the method according to the invention is that at least three vessels participate, notably the resident ship, the mooring vessel or vessels, and the visiting ship. The mooring vessel or vessels as referred to throughout this specification are preferably arranged for autonomous operation.

In a second embodiment of the method of mooring ac cording to the invention wherein a visiting ship is moored to a shore, the mooring vessel or vessels are moved to engage the shore on a predefined location, where after the visiting ship is moved towards the mooring vessel or vessels so as to enable the mooring vessel or vessels to engage the visiting ship to complete berthing of the visiting ship.

According to another aspect the mooring system of the invention is embodied with an engaging system that comprises a plurality of floating mooring vessels, wherein each mooring vessel comprises at least two mooring arms, one of which being arranged for contacting the visiting ship, and one of which being arranged for contacting the resident ship or contacting the shore. Accordingly the invention is also embodied in an individual mooring vessel which comprises at least two mooring arms, one of which being arranged for contacting a visiting ship, and one of which being arranged for contacting a resi dent ship or a shore.

The mooring arms of the mooring vessel are preferably suited to make mooring possible on a ship's hull, for instance by a magnetic device at the end of the arm that contacts the ship, or by application of a vacuuming device at the end of the respective mooring arms.

The mooring system and the mooring vessel of the invention open the way to implement an automatic method of moor ing in which a ship is automatically moored to another ship or automatically moored to shore.

In order to promote the autonomous operation of moor ing as envisaged by the invention each mooring vessel is pref- erably provided with a propellant system to arrange for auton omous movement of the mooring vessel to an intended location nearby the visiting ship or nearby the resident ship or nearby the shore .

The autonomous mooring operation is further promoted by arranging that each mooring vessel is equipped to identify the visiting ship and the resident ship or a predefined loca tion on the shore where mooring is intended.

It appears that best results may be achieved by ar ranging that the mooring vessels entertain a continuous two- way communication link with a computer system to coordinate and control the movement and operation of the respective moor ing vessels relative to the visiting ship and/or the resident ship or the shore.

The invention will hereinafter be further elucidated with reference to the drawing of an exemplary embodiment of a mooring system according to the invention that is not limiting as to the appended claims.

In the drawing:

-figure 1 shows in a sequence of steps a mooring operation according to the invention wherein mooring vessels ac cording to the invention are applied; and

-figure 2 shows a series of mooring vessels according to the invention employing a communication link with a central computer system.

Whenever in the figures the same reference numerals are applied, these numerals refer to the same parts.

Making reference first to figure 2, it shows a sche matic drawing of a mooring system 1 of the invention, wherein the system 1 comprises a series of mooring vessels 2, wherein each mooring vessel 2 comprises at least two mooring arms 3,

4. One of the mooring arms 3, 4 is arranged for contacting a visiting ship 5, and the other of the mooring arms 3, 4 is ar ranged for contacting a resident ship 6 or for contacting the shore 7. The ends of the mooring arms are preferably provided with a magnetic device or vacuuming device to establish and maintain contact with a ship's hull were with the shore 7.

Furthermore each mooring vessel 2 is provided with a propellant system to arrange for autonomous movement of the mooring vessel 2 to an intended location nearby the visiting ship 5 or nearby the resident ship 6 or nearby the shore 7.

The way how a mooring vessel 2 is to be provided with such a propellant system is entirely known to the skilled person and requires no further elucidation.

Preferably further each mooring vessel 2 is equipped to identify the visiting ship 5 and the resident ship 6 or a predefined location on the shore 7. This can for instance be implemented with radio beacons, or by using radiofrequency identification tags or other known suitable systems or another system yet to be developed.

It is further preferable that the mooring vessels 2 entertain a continuous communication link as symbolized with arrows A with a computer system 8. The computer system 8 is preferably located onshore although this is not essential, and serves to coordinate and control the movement and operation of the respective mooring vessels 2 relative to the visiting ship 5 and/or the resident ship 6 or the shore 7. This includes the planning and organisation of the number of mooring vessels that are required to handle a particular visiting ship (among a multitude of other tasks) .

Turning now to figure 1 a method of mooring a visiting ship 5 to a resident ship 6 is shown, which is depicted in four subsequent steps.

In a first step in the top left corner of figure 1 it is shown that a visiting ship 5 is positioned at a dedicated location. A resident ship 6 is also shown in a non-moored con dition .

In a second step shown in the right top corner of figure 1 it shows that a mooring vessel 2 is moved to engage the visiting ship 5, whereafter in a third step {shown below the first step) the resident ship 6 is moved towards the visiting ship 5 on a side where the mooring vessel or vessels 2 have engaged the visiting ship 5. This enables that subsequently in a step 4 (shown below the second step) the mooring vessel or vessels 2 engage the resident ship 6. At this time after step 4 the ship to ship mooring is completed. Without sacrificing the benefits of the invention it is of course also possible that the mooring vessels 2 first engage the resident ship 6, and that thereafter the visiting ship 5 is moved for engagement with the mooring vessels 2.

The system of the invention can in a similar way be used in a method of mooring a visiting ship to shore. Since this only requires that a mooring vessel or vessels are moved to engage the shore on a predefined location instead of engag ing a ship as discussed above and shown with reference to fig ure 1, it is believed that an elucidation with reference to the drawing of how such a method is implemented can be dis pensed with. Likewise it is not required to show that after positioning the mooring vessels to shore, the visiting ship is moved towards the mooring vessel or vessels so as to enable the mooring vessel or vessels to engage the visiting ship.

Although the invention has been discussed in the foregoing with reference to an exemplary embodiment of the method and mooring system of the invention, the invention is not restricted to this particular embodiment which can be var ied in many ways without departing from the invention. The discussed exemplary embodiment shall therefore not be used to construe the appended claims strictly in accordance therewith. On the contrary the embodiment is merely intended to explain the wording of the appended claims without intent to limit the claims to this exemplary embodiment. The scope of protection of the invention shall therefore be construed in accordance with the appended claims only, wherein a possible ambiguity in the wording of the claims shall be resolved using this exem plary embodiment.