Smart Bollard

What is a Smart Bollard?

While resembling a standard dock bollard, the Smart Bollard offers advanced features to enhance the safety and efficiency of mooring operations. Positioned permanently on quays, this innovative bollard is equipped with sensors to measure the load on mooring lines. Such measurements translate the structural movement arising from mooring line tension, providing valuable data to port authorities, terminal operators, and vessels. This advanced bollard dock system is compatible with various seagoing vessels, including container and bulk carriers.

Why a Smart Bollard?

Historically, quantifying the load on mooring lines proved challenging. Without precise data on moored vessels, ports often assume maximum mooring loads. During adverse weather conditions, including high waves, strong currents, and gusts, understanding the exact loads on mooring lines becomes crucial. Overloaded lines risk breakage, potentially causing the ship to detach from the dock bollards, leading to severe accidents.

The Smart Bollard addresses this challenge by offering real-time data on mooring loads, enhancing the safety and providing insights into mooring forces. With its advanced MoorControl software system, users receive detailed, comprehensible data, optimizing port use. Especially as vessels grow larger and weather becomes unpredictable, insights into mooring loads are paramount.

Continuous monitoring and data collection via the Smart Bollards streamline port operations and prevent potential hazards during mooring.

The system's dashboard displays and logs pivotal data for analysis, such as:

• Load on the bollard ship
• Line direction and angle
• Tide level
• Weather conditions
• Vessel history (using AIS data)

Administrators can conveniently add users, establish alarms, and integrate the data into other systems through the provided API.

Benefits of the Smart Bollard

• Enhanced Safety: Real-time load monitoring and force predictions bolster safety measures for both operators and assets. 
• Comprehensive Overview: A thorough understanding of mooring forces in diverse environments facilitates the efficient movement of vessels. 
• Optimized Dock Capacity: Insights into quay capabilities might allow larger ships to be moored. 
• Resource Efficiency: Accumulated data and force predictions could minimize the need for expensive resources, such as tugboats. 
• Long-Term Data Insights: Continuous data collection provides a holistic view of the forces impacting berths and vessels, aiding in port development and refining operations.