78 Design Principles and Considerations of Port Elements
good maneuverability at service speed, but 2.3 ACCESS (NAVIGATION)
poor maneuverability at low speed.
8. Ships fitted with adequate low or other
thrusters may have very good low-speed
maneuverability. Ships with omni-
directional thrusters will generally have
excellent low-speed maneuverability.
In the above L s is length of the design
ship, B is the design ship beam, h is water
depth, and T is ship draught.
For more information on ship maneuver-
ability the interested reader is referred to
PIANC (1992a, 1982/1983), Heikkila
(1990), Herlich (1992), Eden (1971), Kray
(1972, 1973).
As indicated by PIANC (1985a), if the
actual underkeel clearance of a large ship is
less than 1 m, a return current between
ship and channel bottom can no longer ex-
ist. Under such conditions, the resistance to
ship movement increases and the propeller
efficiency decreases significantly. Conse-
quently, the turning ability of large ships of
all types is hampered. The negative effect of
reduced underkeel clearance on the turning
ability of containerships and gas carriers is
even more pronounced (PIANC, 1985b). In
most cases, a large ship traveling at a speed
of about 4 knots (2mjs) with an actual
underkeel clearance of about 2 m will re-
main maneuverable.
It should be pointed out that when large
and very large ships are mentioned in this
book the following definitions are assumed:
(a) Oil tankers, ore carriers, and combina-
tion carriers-100,000 to 200,000 DWT
and more
(b) Liquid gas carriers-transport capacity
of 125,000 m 3 and over
(c) Container carriers-overall length of
250m or more
(d) Ferries and roll-onjroll-off (RojRo) ves-
sels-overall length of 90 m or more, or
45,000 DWT and more
CHANNEL
2.3.1 General
The access channel is a buoyed unob-
structed waterway of suitable depth, width
and alignment of which the function is to
provide for the safe and convenient naviga-
tion in an out of the port harbor. In most
cases, but not always, channels are con-
structed for two-way traffic and their
design is dominated by the largest and the
deepest-draft vessel expected to use the
channel. Sometimes, however, the design
ship may be the one with poor inherent
maneuverability or excessive windage, or
one that carries a particularly hazardous
(dangerous) cargoes. To date, there is no
sta~dard procedure for channel design and
each design is strictly site-specific. Certain
guidelines, however, are available. They are
developed by different national and inter-
national bodies, (e.g., PIANC (1995), U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers EM-1613 (USCE,
1983), Canadian Coast Guard TERMPOL
code (1983), United Kingdom's National
Maritime Institute (NMI, 1981), Navfac
DM-26.1 (1981), PHRI (1980) and others)
and modified from time to time.
The permanent International Association
of Navigation Congresses has been involved
in several efforts to review various national
studies and developed several guidelines
(PIANC 1980, 1982/1983, 1985b, 1992,
1995). These reports are essentially sum-
maries of relevant information along with
recommendations on design methods and
practical design criteria. Reference to these
reports are made elsewhere in this book as
applicable.
The navigation channel is usually classi-
fied as restricted or unrestricted. The for-
mer is typically fairly narrow and bounded
by shoreline banks on both sides, and the