KIRBY D.

PARILLA December
15, 2018

Define the following:

1. Berthing Structure - A berth is a designated location in a port or harbour used for

mooring vessels when they are not at sea. Berths provide a vertical front which
allows safe and secure mooring that can then facilitate the unloading or loading of
cargo or people from vessels.

2. Wharf - A Wharf is a man-made structure on a river or by the sea, which provides

an area for ships to safely dock. Some are very intricate, with multiple types of berth
over a large area, and navigable channels, and others (like this one, below, from
Australia) are more straightforward. A Wharf can contain quays and piers and will
normally have buildings within it to service the ships (often warehouses and
offices). Because of their abundance of unusual buildings and ready-made water
features, unused wharfs are often converted into expensive retail and housing areas.
3. Pier – A Pier is a, normally wooden, structure which protrudes from the shore at a
level above the water level, allowing ships to disembark passengers in the deeper
water further out. The length of the pier may also provide berths for smaller boats.

4. Breakwater – Breakwaters are structures constructed near the coasts as part of

coastal management or to protect an anchorage from the effects of both weather and
longshore drift. Breakwaters reduce the intensity of wave action in inshore waters
and thereby reduce coastal erosion or provide safe harbourage. Breakwaters may
also be small structures designed to protect a gently sloping beach and placed one
to three hundred feet offshore in relatively shallow water.

5. Apron – The area immediately in front of or behind a wharf shed on which cargo is
lifted. On the "front apron," cargo is unloaded from or loaded onto a ship. Behind
the shed, cargo moves over the "rear apron" into and out of railroad cars

6. Bouys – Floats that warn of hazards such as rocks or shallow ground, to help ships
maneuver through unfamiliar harbors.

7. Mooring Dolphins - A dolphin is a man-made marine structure that extends above

the water level and is not connected to shore. Dolphins are usually installed to
 provide a fixed structure when it would be impractical to extend the shore to provide
a dry-access facility, for example, when the number of ships is greater than can be
accommodated by the length of the berth/pier. Typical uses include extending a
berth (a berthing dolphin) or providing a mooring point (a mooring dolphin).
Dolphins are also used to house navigation aids such as lights or daybeacons, and
display regulatory information such as speed limits and other safety information, or
advertising. They are also used to protect structures from possible impact by ships,
in a similar fashion to boating fenders.

8. Bollard – A line securing device on a wharf around which mooring and berthing
lines are fastened.

9. Beacons – Beacons help guide navigators to their destinations. Types of

navigational beacons include radar reflectors, radio beacons, sonic and visual
signals. Visual beacons range from small, single-pile structures to large lighthouses
or light stations and can be located on land or on water. Lighted beacons are called
lights; unlighted beacons are called daybeacons.

10. Quay – A Quay is, technically, a part of the river bank or coastline which has been
modified so ships can dock at it parallel to the shore.

11. Walls – A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defence constructed where the
sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the
coast. The purpose of a sea wall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation
and leisure activities from the action of tides, waves, or tsunamis.[1] As a seawall
is a static feature it will conflict with the dynamic nature of the coast and impede
the exchange of sediment between land and sea.

12. Groins – Groin, in coastal engineering, a long, narrow structure built out into the
water from a beach in order to prevent beach erosion or to trap and accumulate sand
that would otherwise drift along the beach face and nearshore zone under the
influence of waves approaching the beach at an angle. A groin can be successful in
stabilizing a beach on the updrift side, but erosion tends to be aggravated on the
downdrift side, which is deprived by the groin structure of replenishment by drifting
sand. Partly to counteract this tendency, often multiple groins are built in so-called
groin fields, which can stabilize a larger beach area.