A bollard is a metal post on a deck of a ship or tug to which mooring lines are

fastened. Mooring bollards are used to secure ships and boats to piers or docks.
Normally, the material used for construction of Bollard is steel. Cast iron is also
used on large bollards for mooring ships. Bollards are also manufactured with cast
steel or ductile iron or stainless steel.
Generally all the bollards are vertical to the water line and are mounted on the
deck. The bollards should all be as close as practical to the edge of the deck or
gunwale but not so close that any rope around them overhangs the ships side.
The bollards on the vessel must accommodate sufficient turns of the rope to tie and
knot around them. The bigger the diameter of the bollard the more space it takes up
on deck and if the bollard is too small it may not withstand the bollard pull and
may get damaged.
Polypropylene mooring lines are generally used as ropes. Knots will be put around
bollard pipes and the ropes will never be tied onto the pins. The pairs of bollard
pipes will be sufficiently apart to accommodate the ropes around them. There will
be 3 to 4 turns of ropes round the bollards below the pins.
The pins, projecting through the bollards on each side, are arranged to point fore
and aft parallel with the centerline of the vessel.
The line loads are influenced by numerous factors including vessel size, wind
conditions, current conditions, passing vessels, elasticity of the mooring lines,
vessel deck equipment, tidal levels, bollard spacing, etc.
"Bollard pull" is an industry standard used for rating tug capabilities and is the
pulling force imparted by the tug to the towline. It means the power that an escort
tug can apply to its working line(s) when operating.
Bollard load ratings are certified using structural analysis and calculations. The
bollard itself can be rated based on its yield strength or ultimate strength of the
material used in construction of bollard.
Bollard pull may be acting on the bollard in the direction of 0 to 45 in the
vertical plane and 0 to 180 in the horizontal plane.
The theoretical point of loading for the line pull shall be the intersection of the
bollard vertical axis centerline and the horizontal axis running through the center
of the pins. The factor of safety of the bollard against yield shall be 2.5 and the
factor of safety against breaking shall be 3.5.
Indian Register of Shipping ( IRS ) specifies certain rules to be followed. With
respect to Bollards, the rules to be followed are explained in Part 3, Chapter 15,
Section 6. The rules are to be considered at the time of designing a Bollard and
are to be complied.
Some of the points are listed below for your reference. They are:
? These shipboard fittings associated with the towing and/or mooring, operations at
bow, sides and stern are to comply with the requirements given in Section 6.4 and
6.5.
? For normal towing operations (e.g. harbour / manoeuvring), 1.25 times the
intended maximum towing load (e.g. static bollard pull) to be considered as Design
Load.