Smart Bollard

What is a Smart Bollard?

While it might appear similar to a traditional dock bollard, the Smart Bollard is a step ahead with its enhanced features geared towards safety and mooring efficiency. Permanently anchored on quaysides, it comes with sensors that gauge the strain on mooring lines. By doing so, it captures the consequential structural movement from mooring line tension, providing invaluable insights to port authorities, terminal operators, and shipping vessels. This progressive dock bollard is versatile, accommodating an array of sea vessels, from container to bulk carriers.  

Why a Smart Bollard?

In the past, determining the tension on mooring lines was a tough challenge. Lacking precise data, ports would typically account for the maximum mooring loads. However, during challenging weather conditions — be it towering waves, potent currents, or intense wind gusts — having an accurate reading on mooring lines is essential. Excessive strain can lead to line breakage, potentially causing vessels to break away from dock bollards, resulting in significant mishaps.  

The Smart Bollard is the solution, offering on-the-spot data on mooring loads, elevating safety standards, and furnishing insights into mooring forces. Its state-of-the-art MoorControl software system delivers detailed yet easily understandable data, making the most of port facilities. As vessels evolve in size and weather patterns remain uncertain, understanding mooring strains is of utmost importance.  

Ongoing supervision and data compilation through Smart Bollards refine port activities and mitigate potential risks during mooring.

For easy reference, the system's interface showcases and stores essential data such as:  

• Load exerted on the bollard by ships  
• Line orientation and its angle  
• Tide height  
• Prevailing weather conditions  
• Historical data of vessels (via AIS data)  

System users have the flexibility to add new users, set alarms, and assimilate the data into alternate platforms using the in-built API.  

Benefits of the Smart Bollard

• Enhanced Safety: By monitoring load in real-time and predicting forces, safety for both personnel and assets is significantly improved.  
• In-depth Overview: A comprehensive grasp of mooring forces across varied conditions ensures smooth vessel movement.  
• Dock Utilization: Insights into the quay's capabilities may enable accommodation of larger ships.  
• Resource Prudence: Harnessing accumulated data and force projections might reduce reliance on pricier resources, such as tugboats.  
• Long-Term Insights: Persistent data collection paints a complete picture of the pressures influencing docks and vessels, assisting in port evolution and operational finesse.