A new monitoring system of the wind actions on moored ships

In recent years, a significant increase in trade requirements has forced the shipbuilding industries to construct larger and larger ships giving rise to a phenomenon called gigantism" (Haralambides, 2019), aimed at reducing or optimizing transport costs. However, most of the port areas are still inadequately equipped to handle the docking of giant ships. Therefore, incidents increasingly occur due to the breakdown of the mooring system of these mega-structures. The present paper provides the description of an innovative system designed to monitor the wind actions on large containerships moored through the measurement of the micro-movements that the ship experiences during severe weather conditions. The monitoring system is based on a computer stereo vision approach (Ballard & Brown, 1982). The paper describes the realization of the facility and its functioning, highlighting its advantages but also its limits.