Monsoon season precautions for Gujarat ports issued

With South West monsoon about to break in the West coast Gujarat Maritime board has issued elaborate precautions to the ports in the state including Porbandar that ship crew should take to avert possible accidents. The precautions are valid till September

All vessels to anchor at safe distance from breakwater. Pre-arrival information to be passed on timely to all arriving vessels and to be followed up for strict compliance.

Vessels to confirm good condition of mooring winches and mooring hawsers.

Only after mooring plan is confirmed, the vessel may approach close to the breakwater.

Master and Pilot will discuss and decide on the pilot boarding point as required giving due regard to safety of life and property in prevailing weather conditions. If boarding/disembarkation of pilot is not possible due to wind/sea/swell/weather, then berthing/unberthing should be rescheduled accordingly. All shipping agents are hereby directed to convey the same to ship master prior to arrival of vessel at Porbandar port.

Pilot shall give due guidance to boarding point which must be strictly followed by the vessel’s master.

Safe fore & after clearance of at least 20 metres shall be considered for berthing two vessels at GMB and SCL jetty simultaneously. However, fore & aft clearance may be increased as may be decided by the port due to other reasons. All vessels to be equipped with extra strong mooring lines forward and after each to secure their vessel safely at berth, including keeping spare ropes giving full regard to prevailing weather conditions and standard practices of seamanship and should exercise due diligence at all times during high winds and swell.

While the vessel is at berth, all mooring lines to be tended regularly to avoid undue surging of vessel.