Microprocessors and Microsystems 52 (2017) 106–116

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Microprocessors and Microsystems

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Accommodating larger container vessels using an integrated laser

system for approach and berthing
Marko Perkovic a,∗, Maciej Gucma b, Blaz Luin a, Lucjan Gucma b, Tanja Brcko a
a
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Maritime Studies and Transport, Pot pomorscakov 4, Portoroz, 6320, Slovenia
b
Maritime University of Szczecin, Institute of Marine Traffic Engineering, Szczecin, Poland

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Various activities such as dredging and pier lengthening have made it possible for ports to receive larger
Received 30 December 2016 container vessels, though in many cases this has made berthing the vessels more difficult, necessitating
Revised 19 May 2017
advanced ranging and docking systems. For example, in Koper, Slovenia, navigation through a narrow
Accepted 25 May 2017
and bending channel has been made safer through the implementation of a laser-ranging system; a laser
Available online 2 June 2017
docking system is in place so that once the ship is positioning alongside where, say, inadequate fenders
Keywords: await and ship-to-shore (STS) cranes are near, special care is required and parameters such as precise
Laser ranging vessel position, transversal speed, and vessel-approaching angle are of great importance. This paper will
Vessel docking present the layout of the system and the first results related to the observed docking of large container
Metocean vessels calling at the Port of Koper.
Port of Koper © 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Container terminal
Fenders
Brolsma

1. Introduction
The greatest pressure currently on ports is “Scale Enlargement.”
Particularly, the seemingly endless and rapid increase in ship sizes
force ports into a virtual state of constant adjustment. Basins must
be deepened and widened, piers lengthened (auxiliary equipment
must also fit the new designs), and every change requires a re-
view of procedures especially as regards safety. At times this pres-
sure is too great for known means of alteration and in the best of
cases new techniques and technologies arise. Container vessels are
the best example of ships that grow faster than ports. In recent
years (2010–2015) the cargo throughput in the Port of Koper has
averaged an annual growth of 8% with container growth as much
as 16% yearly without an increase in the number of vessel calls
(Fig. 1) [1].
Managing this throughput was made possible by dredging ac-
tivities and pier extension, allowing for the reception of larger
vessels. Six years ago, the largest container vessel calling at the
Port of Koper was the Panamax size vessel, 292 m in length and
32.2 m abeam, with an 11.4 m draft, approximately 60 0 0 TEU. To-
day, mother vessels are calling at Koper (Fig. 2). The largest con-
tainer vessels in 2015 were the “MSC Luciana” (363.57 m x 45.6 m
or 131771 GT), which can carry 11,660 TEU while in 2016 the
∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: marko.perkovic@fpp.uni-lj.si (M. Perkovic).
largest container vessel was MSC Paloma with 14,0 0 0 TEU capacity
[2]. The maximum permissible draft in the Port of Koper is 14.5 m
at 0.5 m of under keel clearance (UKC). The average length of the
container vessels calling increased from 170 m to 209 m. During
the last decade the development of ship sizes of RoRo/RoPax ves-
sels and the scale enlargement of product tankers have also been
evident in the Port of Koper. As the vessel sizes and amount of
traffics increases, safe and efficient berthing becomes crucial.
Dredging was certainly an important activity leading to the
ability of Koper to receive larger vessels, but limitations required
further adjustments. The final approach, docking, is already a high
risk phase of a sea voyage in which the precision of positioning,
reliability of the solution, independent architecture and an opera-
tor’s knowledge are all required to maintain a safe approach and
passage through – in the case of Koper - a narrow and bending
channel, then berthing safely where fenders designed for much
smaller ships were still in place. Hence, lasers, anemometers, tide
gauges, leading lights, and AIS AtoN (Automatic Identification Sys-
tem Aids to Navigation) were installed and interfaced to the VTS
(Vessel Tracking Service) service and Pilot Navigation System.
2. Velocity and berthing
Due to the urgency and some logistical difficulties related to the
deposition of dredged material, limited deepening and very limited
widening was possible at Koper, leaving a “step” in front of the
basin that dangerously limits the maneuvering area. Fig. 3 illus-

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.micpro.2017.05.015
0141-9331/© 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.
 M. Perkovic et al. / Microprocessors and Microsystems 52 (2017) 106–116 107

Total C argo Container Cargo n° Ships

2400

2300
20,000,000
2200
CARGO THROUGHPUT [T]

2100
15,000,000
2000

N° SHIPS
1900
10,000,000
1800

1700
5,000,000 1600

1500

0 1400
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Fig. 1. Time Series of cargo and container throughput versus vessel calls in the Port of Koper.

Fig. 2. Time series of the container vessel scale enlargement in the Port of Koper.

trates the challenges for large container vessels entering the con-
tainer terminal basin.
While the vessel is approaching, the pilot is usually standing
at the left wing having only a visual positioning system. Some Pi-
lots use their own low cost GPS (Global Positioning System) sys-
tems, which have questionable positioning awareness. This already
tenuous situation becomes much more complicated when berthing
must be carried out in, for instance, high wind conditions (con-
tainer vessels, of course, are notoriously predisposed to drift, or
worse, in wind). Fig. 4 illustrates just such a situation. A pilot
boarded the vessel without having a real notion of the wind con-
dition at sea. The gusty NE wind called “Burja” (a katabatic wind,
more widely known by its Italian name, the bora) was ranging
from Beaufort 6 to 7. To maintain direction and position in the
channel, the vessel entered at high speed, but due to the size of
the area exposed to the wind, the vessel was continuously pushed
‘down’ and finally entered the basin dangerously ‘low’ – too close
to the shallow area, constituting a near-incident or accident. Af-
ter this, the AIS AtoN’s marking channel layout were installed, a
sector light was affixed and a laser ranging system (LRS) using an
anemometer was placed at the entrance of the basin 1 with some
urgency (which is shown in Fig. 3).
The final approach and docking rely on fender design and ves-
sel operation. Fender design is determined by berthing velocity
and ship displacement. Brolsma curves are the standard means of
determining vessel velocity based on navigational conditions and
vessel displacement. Some of the changes already discussed have
an effect on the efficacy of this method of determining berthing
108 M. Perkovic et al. / Microprocessors and Microsystems 52 (2017) 106–116
Fig. 3. Layout, bathymetry and AtoN’s of basin I.
Fig. 4. Approaching of the large container vessel at high wind.
speed. According to Rankine [3], Brolsma Curves do not have the
sound statistical basis that a designer be led to believe it has
– in any case, the data used is of questionable value for mod-
ern ships. Suggested transverse berthing velocities and approach-
ing angles may be too high for modern vessels under specific nav-
igational conditions. Researchers have been investigating different
methods of fender design. Metzger et al. [4] conducted measure-
ments of pressure on fenders and ship positions with ultrasonic
distance sensors; Sakakibara presented a measurement of pres-
sure on pneumatic fenders [5]; Yamse et al. [6] analyzed more
than 2500 instances of Berthing velocities in various conditions
(14 terminals from 6 countries) and found that their results did
not fit the Brolsma curve. For instance, they found that wind be-
low 10 m/s does not influence final berthing velocity, which there-
fore describes a log-normal distribution, so that the speed mostly
depends on tug/assisted berthing and pilot aid. They categorized
berthing velocities in two groups based on operator experience,
approach mode and environmental conditions. The following table
and figure presents the result of their analysis. Considering suffi-
cient energy absorption capacity at 99% confidence allowing suffi-
cient margin of safety in fender and berth design for group A re-
quires a berthing velocity of 9.4–16 cm/s. Such design criteria is too
high for the existing layout at Koper, where the cylindrical fend-
ers were initially designed to absorb berthing energy of a much
smaller container vessel. Yet we have found that simply minimiz-
ing velocity and emphasizing ship orientation is sufficient to assure
safe berthing.
As can be seen from the Kinetic Energy Equation, the energy
to be absorbed is a function of the square of approach veloc-
ity. For this reason, minimizing the berthing velocity of the de-
signed vessel will significantly reduce berthing energy, while par-
allel berthing will share impact energy among the set of fenders
(perhaps all ports have their idiosyncrasies that only occasionally
present actual safety issues: at the Port of Koper, the rails for the
ship-to-ship cranes were built for smaller cranes than are now re-
quired, so an additional hazard is that a ship that doesn’t approach
near enough to parallel might actually collide with a crane).
E = 1/2 · M · V 2 · Ce · Cm · Cs · Cc (1)
where,
M – mass of the vessel (displacement)
V – ship velocity (velocity component normal to the dock)
Ce – eccentricity (at impact - vessel is not exactly parallel to
the pier - ship will start to rotate around the contact point
thus dissipating some of its energy)
Cm – virtual mass (certain mass of water surrounding and mov-
ing with the ship has to be added)
Cs – softness (part of berthing energy which is absorbed by the
deformation of the vessel’s hull and the fender)
Cc– berthing configuration (factor quantifying ability to displace
water around the solid and open type pier)
As an example, a large container vessel (150,0 0 0 ton dis-
placement) approaching at velocity 16 cm/s meets the fender at
2709 kNm, whereas the fenders at Koper can absorb a maximum
of 600 kNm (abnormal energy considering a safety factor of 1.5),
so that the maximum berthing speed for this vessel would be
7.5 cm/s, which is 596 kNm (considering 99% confidence level).
 M. Perkovic et al. / Microprocessors and Microsystems 52 (2017) 106–116 109

Fig. 5. Laser ranging and docking system.

Table 1 From Table 2 it can be stated that ultrasound can be eliminated

Categorized berthing velocities.
and both radar and laser ranging solutions are capable of being
Group A Group B used in docking systems. A laser based ranging system is not sub-
Berthing velocities [cm/s] Berthing velocities [cm/s] ject to weather; the most significant problem is reflectivity of the
Average 3.9 – 5.4 6.7 – 9.3 measured object (the vessel in this case). Rusted and corroded sur-
Standard Deviation 1.5 – 2.8 3.5 – 4.4 faces tend to reflect up to 90% less of an emitted laser beam than
Coefficient of Variance 0.30 – 0.63 0.44 – 0–66 painted surfaces. Such a limitation is not observed in radar sys-
95% Confidence Value 7.7 – 11.3 14.1 – 16.9
tems. A microwave is reflected by the flat surfaces and method of
99% Confidence Value 9.4 – 16.0 19.3 – 23.8
measurement used here - FMCW (frequency modulated continu-
ous wave) – provides a very reliable solution with the same an-
tenna for received and transmitted signals. The pulse system used
3. Laser ranging and docking system in the lasers is resistant to external interferences and usually is
coded. The FMCW method used in radars is very rugged and not
3.1. Laser docking system layout affected by interference. Based on the range factor, radars are not
used in their full scale and lasers have better flexibility. As far as
The concept behind the construction of a docking system cost, radar is approximately 5 times more expensive than laser.
(Fig. 5) is the facilitating of the berthing of a large vessel by an This factor will decrease in forthcoming years, as the popularity
accurate determination of the ship’s hull position in relation to the of radar increases.
berth [7–10]. The primary advantage over satellite positioning sys- Laser docking systems are usually used in specialized cargo ter-
tems is the ability to identify the ship’s distance to the quay inde- minals such as LNG or crude oil, where it is obligatory according
pendently and measure the transverse speed of the hull relative to to different technical societies. Such systems are not combined in
the quay. Most modern oil and chemical jetties are equipped with complex systems rather like large displays mounted on piers. Laser
vessel docking systems. These are also standard for LNG (Liquefied sensors in existing systems are simply a singular device in a big-
Natural Gas) terminals. Container ships present a new challenge. ger subsystem, while the proposed solution is a smart sensor with
Radar systems are becoming obsolete and the more precise laser integrated devices capable of working as a part of a larger setup
technology is taking its place. During work on the LDS it has been or as a standalone device. Lasers and processing units are located
identified that typical electronic ranging sensors are widely used at the STS (ship to shore) crane, just above the wheels or about
based on measurements (Table 1): at 2 m height (Fig. 5). Considering the accuracy, while the vessel
is approaching the STS crane (one with LDS units) shall be located
• Mechanical manner – sound measurement; wherever the vessels outline is parallel. Parallel body of the vessel
• light beam – laser measurement; hull can be found at the middle part and can be as much as 60%
• microwave – radar measurement. of vessel length. The equipment used for measurements is a com-
bination of different sensors and modules that are remotely con-
Sound measurement is a pretty straight-forward microphone trolled by pilots through specific user interfaces. The list of equip-
with a speaker asynchronous system used in cars (as a parking ment is shown in Table 3. In order to extend laser diode lifetimes,
solution, and some industrial applications based on mechanical devices are powered on-demand. The laser distance meters in the
waves of 20 kHz–1 GHz), while radar ranging systems emit elec- docking system provide 2 cm accuracy for distances up to 300 m,
tromagnetic waves from 3 GHz to 130 GHz). Each of these meth- while the ranging sensor provides 1.5 cm accuracy up to 400 m. All
ods has significant pros and cons, and during the application all of anemometers are able to measure wind velocities in all 360° in
them were researched. This comparison using a dedicated scale is a range between 0 and 65 m/s, which is sufficient in the area of
presented in Table 2 considering: range, power, dependability of interest. Measurement can be provided at a sample rate of 20 Hz.
weather, beam size, method of measurement, refresh rate, price The resolution of ultrasonic tidal sensor is 1 cm.
and lifetime.
110 M. Perkovic et al. / Microprocessors and Microsystems 52 (2017) 106–116

Table 2
Comparison of methods.

Ranging method

Laser diode Radar Ultrasounds

Range to 300 m to 2 km to 10 m
Emission power 10 mW (laser) 10 mW (96 GHz) 1 W (sound)
Beam Very narrow (<2 deg) Narrow (<5 deg) Wide (>5 deg)
Weather dependability Low Very low Significant
Price Average Very high Low
Method of measurement FMCW Pulse Continuous - interrupted
Refresh rate 0.1 kHz 1 kHz 0.001 kHz
Lifetime Average Average High

Table 3
List of measuring and data transmission equipment.

Device Model Application

Laser Distance Meter (diode based) Riegl LD90 Ranging sensor

Laser Distance Meter (diode based)
ZigBee to SIO module
Utrasonic Distance Meter
Ultrasonic 3D anemometer
Ultrasonic 2D anemometer
Jenoptik LDM301
Digi XBEE-PRO XBP24
MaxBotix XL-MaxSonar WR1
Gill WindMaster PRO
Gill WindObserver 65
Docking system
For remote tidal sensor data transmission
For tide measurement
Wind velocity measurement
Wind velocity measurement

3.2. Data Transfer, Transmission, encoding and interfacing

Server SSH
Commercially built docking support systems are mainly con- Fixed IP: 1.1.1.1
OpenVPN
structed on the basis of a field ‘bus’ connecting stations to a main
server
controller and then presenting output on a large display or trans-
mitting information to the pilot via the VHF (Very High Frequency)
link. Distances between laser modules could be around 250 m in
the presence of a harsh electromagnetic environment (power ca-
bles, pipes, cranes, etc.) [11]. When designing such a system at a
container terminal the situation becomes especially complicated - Internet
it is difficult to find a suitable position for lasers. STS cranes move
along the jetty. It is possible to mount lasers on different cranes, measurement
but this would require more installation expense, using precise data
RTK (Real time kinematic) positioning systems on each crane. VPN
connection
Distance measurement is a readout of the value in meters from
a shore-based point to an object – that is, an approaching vessel. remote
The system must be perpetually on standby – where no laser is administration
operating (due to the limited life cycle of the laser) and embedded 3G modem
microcontrollers are polling for a start signal periodically (usually
every 100 ms). This state consumes very little power.
GSM/UMTS/LTE (Global Systems for Mobile Communica- Data collection OpenVPN
tions/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System/Long Term terminal client
Evolution) connectivity can be used for data collection and remote
administration but this is not provided “fresh out of the box” . Dynamic IP: 1.2.3.4
4G connections can be established between the client terminal
(4G modem or router) and a network operator. Peer to peer Fig. 6. Reverse connection through VPN. (For interpretation of the references to
connections are not possible; therefore only internet access from a colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this ar-
network operator can be obtained. The downside is that network ticle.)
operators usually provide only dynamic IP (Internet Protocol)
addresses and block incoming connections via firewall. In order to
establish an incoming connection: the VPN server (red arrows). This enables administration connec-
tions in the reverse direction [(blue arrows): the measured data are
• a network operator must provide a fixed IP address and
transferred to the client in the opposite direction (black arrows)].
• enable exceptions in their firewall.
Since a weak mobile signal can cause connection resets or fail-
Such requirements are often against network operator security ures, watchdog scripts that monitor operation of all components
policies; but the limitation can be overcome with VPN (Virtual Pri- are widely used. Among things monitored are memory and CPU
vate Network) technologies and a server that clients can connect utilization of the embedded computer, network connection state,
to. In order for VPN to be used, a reliable internet connection is re- modem state, communication program responsiveness and finally
quired, which is not necessarily possible with mobile connections. continuous sensor data availability. The purpose of the watchdog is
Remote administration of a dynamically assigned IP is achieved to ensure that the system is up and running as fast as possible af-
through clients that connect to the VPN server. An example of ter disruptions. Framework to collect, encode, transmit and broad-
the configuration can be seen in Fig. 6. A client first connects to cast measurement data was developed using C++ programming
 M. Perkovic et al. / Microprocessors and Microsystems 52 (2017) 106–116 111

TCP/IP

Internet RS232

RS485

ZigBee

Web
Server interface
Fixed IP: 1.1.1.1
Data forwarding Broadcast Database
(NMEA, binary) server

Fig. 8. Data structure for network transmission and database.

then an hour of time data will be only 122 KB, which is a signifi-
Data collection Data collection cant improvement that is even more evident with a higher sample
terminal terminal rate or when unreliable data transmission channels are used.
The user interface was developed using a web application
Dynamic IP: 1.2.3.4 Dynamic IP: 1.4.5.6
server and involves the use of HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Lan-
guage) Websocket technology for real-time data display. A client
establishes direct data connection with the server that continu-
ZigBee

LDS 1 LDS 2 ously forwards the data to the client. Data rendering (charts) are
Anemometer being produced by the client web browser.

Ultrasound
tide
Fig. 7. Data collection and broadcasting.
language that is very practical for the development on platforms
with limited hardware resources, such as the ARM (Advanced RISC
Machine) processor based Raspberry PI computer that was used for
data collection terminals. Advanced features such as lambda func-
tions are used extensively at this point, as is auto typing, non-
blocking queues for development of data processing and broad-
casting frameworks. This system has the capability of collecting
and processing data from different sources connected over vari-
ous protocols. Data is collected from ultrasound sea level sensors,
anemometers, speed of sound, temperature, different lasers, etc. A
data transmission scenario is shown in Fig. 7.
Because of the need to effectively use available bandwidth, a
serialization framework that efficiently encodes data for further
transmission and storage was developed. Measurement time is al-
most as important as the measurement itself, therefore the data
collection terminal records the time of each measurement and that
time is transmitted together with the measurement data. As the
time is repeated with every measurement and the delay between
consequent measurements is slight, the decision was made to split
the time stamp into two parts - packet offset and measurement
offset
t = t0 + Nt p + tm
where t is actual measurement time, t0 is initial absolute time that
all time measurements are relative to, N is the number of full time
divisions (packets) since t0 and tm is measurement time offset in
microseconds.
If a 20 Hz 3D wind data sampling with time resolution 1 ms
is considered, absolute time must be 8 bytes long. For an hour
of sample-only time over 562 KB of data is required. With this
method, t0 and tp are fixed and written only once; N is a 4-byte
integer and tm is a 2-byte integer. If packet length tp is 1 min
3.3. Database format
Since meteorological datasets can grow quite large if sampled
at 10 Hz or faster, we used a similar encoding to that used for data
transmission. Basic serialization of the information was crafted in
the same manner. Parameters such as initial absolute time, t0 and
packet duration, tm , are stored in the first row of the database
table or key-value store. In the case of network data transmission,
tm , is a packet duration, but in the database it is used for calcu-
lation of N, which is used as a key in a key-value store or in SQL
(Structured Query Language).
The database interface is made in such a way that each key is
unique. Therefore if a new sample will have the same value of N,
the value of the key is retrieved and a new packet is inserted.
For quick dataset recording, the key-value database Google Lev-
elDB was used. However, the same data format can be used to
store data in any SQL database (of course, such an approach will
result in greater overhead).
3.4. Time synchronization
The precise time of each sample is important. The NMEA (Na-
tional Marine Electronics Association) strings from anemometers
that are standard in maritime communications do not include time
information. This is not a problem with slowly changing signals
(2) and when there are no delays in communication. When NMEA
strings are transmitted over the radio or serial bus, there will be
no delays.
Since latency in communication through TCP/IP over GSM net-
works can be on the order of seconds, time information must be
embedded into the packets as described in Fig. 8. Such a long la-
tency period may occur when the GSM signal is weak. Therefore it
is important to store such information in each packet before trans-
mission. For precise time information to be stored, NTP (Network
Time Protocol) is used. If greater accuracy is needed, GPS time
could be used.
112 M. Perkovic et al. / Microprocessors and Microsystems 52 (2017) 106–116

800

700

600

SEA LEVEL DISTANCE [CM] 500

400

300

200

100

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
INDIVIDUAL MEASURMENTS [FREQUENCY 1 HZ]

Fig. 9. Distance measurements using ultrasonic sensor.

Fig. 10. Distance measurements without and including measurements errors.

3.5. Tide and sea level measurement
Tide measurement was carried out using an ultrasonic range
finder mounted on the pier. The sensor has a maximum range of
8 m and a precision of 1 cm. The samples were taken at a fre-
quency of 1 Hz. Due to the mounting location, it was more con-
venient to use wireless ZigBee data transmission. As we can see in
Fig. 9, samples of distance measurements occasionally give wrong
values due to communication errors, temporary obstacles between
the water surface and the sensor and due to occasional reflections
from the sea bottom.
To eliminate measurement errors and the impact of waves, fil-
tering was applied. Without errors, MA (moving average) filtering
would be most appropriate, but due to the errors which are very
far from real values (Fig. 9) median was better. A comparison be-
tween the median and mean filtered samples can be seen on a 30 s
of samples in the Fig. 10. In Fig. 10 (left), measurements without
errors can be seen and both median and mean give similar results,
211 cm median and 211.4 cm mean. On the other hand an obsta-
cle caused error in Fig. 10 (right) causes a significant impact on
the mean value, which is 206.1 cm, while the median filter com-
pletely eliminates the impact of the error and gives 212 cm. Based
on observation, we use an applied 90 s median filter over the mea-
surement samples.
To calculate height above sea level, a distance between MSL
(mean sea level) and a tidal sensor, d, must be determined
AMSL = d − d. (3)
It is possible to calibrate it using another real-time source of
sea level measurements from some nearby location.
3.6. Data visualization
Fig. 11 presents, to the left, a system interface, where at first
the wind time series is presented graphically and the current wind
speed and the direction is available along with distance measure-
ments, the transversal speed of the approaching ship and vessel
alignment (approach angle). On the right there is a simultaneous
graphic presented to the VTS operator, where the vessel is identi-
fied and geo-referenced using the AIS system.
For visualization purposes, data is streamed at 1 Hz. However,
databases contain every sample of wind data at the rate of 20 Hz
which can be retrieved and used in case of incident analysis.
4. First results
Several approaches of large “mother vessels” calling on the
container terminal in Koper were measured and data stored for
 M. Perkovic et al. / Microprocessors and Microsystems 52 (2017) 106–116 113

Fig. 11. LDS interface (left) and wind integration at Vessel Traffic System operated by Maritime Authority.

Fig. 12. Time series of wind speed, vessel distance, approaching speed and berthing angle. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the web version of this article.)

further analysis. It was determined that approach speed and
angles are much more comfortable than specified in various litera-
ture providing standards and recommendations for designing fend-
ers. By obtaining such data, eventual investment into new fend-
ers will be halved. Similar results were found at different locations
where lasers were used for assisting the berthing approach. This
topic was discussed at the 33rd PIANC World Congress 2014 in
USA, where at a workshop [12] it was determined that the aver-
age berthing angle measure was 0.3–0.4°, while the recommen-
dation would be 5° or even more. They also found that the ap-
proaching speeds of large container vessels calling exposed on the
container terminal in Bremerhaven were in the range of 6–7 cm/s,
which matches our measurements at 98% confidence level.
Fig. 12 presents the approach parameters of the container ves-
sel “Ever Elite” observed in the Port of Koper on the morning of
January 23rd, 2015. The green line represents wind speeds aver-
aging between 8 and 9 m/s measured 10 m above water level. In
such conditions the vessel hit the line of fenders at a speed of
3.8 cm/s; the berthing angle was 0.1°. Using these parameters for
the berthing energy calculation only 25% of the energy to be con-
sidered for fender design was necessary.
Fig. 13 shows a series following a vessel approaching (CMA
CGM Faust) and berthing aided by the laser ranging system, pre-
sented on the VTS screen, where the vessel position is transmitted
over the AIS. The top two shots illustrate the laser measurements
required to prevent the vessel from colliding with ‘the step’ at the
entrance to the basin. The bottom shots show the ship arriving to
its final position, which is measured by the laser docking system.
The final approaching speed is 2 cm/s, the most common speed for
vessels berthing at the Port of Koper in 2016. Quite interesting in
the last frame is that though the ship-VTS communications have
the vessel against the pier, it is actually, according to the more re-
liable laser, more than twelve meters from the pier (the lasers are
about two meters from the water, on the crane. The problem is
likely a GPS multipath error caused by the presence of STS cranes
all around the vessel.
114 M. Perkovic et al. / Microprocessors and Microsystems 52 (2017) 106–116
Fig. 13. Vessel approaching and berthing – laser ranging and laser docking system integrated with VTS.
5. Conclusion
This work describes a new technology for safer berthing at con-
tainer terminals—laser ranging and laser docking, integrated with
metocean data. What may seem a simple process, and perhaps at
times is, nonetheless is potentially hazardous to the environment
and to personnel. This timing of the development of this system
is all the more serendipitous as the pressures of the port to take
in larger ships continues, particularly container vessels. Adaptation
of the port was made possible by a complex set of technologies,
ranging from simple dredging to the sophisticated presentation of
data to the pilots and to the maritime authorities. As a cost reduc-
tion measure, shipping companies continue to increase the size of
their ships; meanwhile, ports like Koper have no option but to seek
methods for expansion of their berthing capacity. The very simple
problem is that there is not often the means to expand the size of
the port in any way, or sufficiently. The entrance to the first basin
at the Koper container terminal is rather treacherous, narrow, ir-
regular and at an angle; the laser systems have achieved a safety
level that allows the confident acceptance of container ships that
are by now carrying more than twice that of the original Panamax.
The laser ranging system has been in place now since 2014.
During this time lasers and sonic anemometers have proven to be
reliable and highly accurate devices. Even though the system is
placed near the sea where it is continuously exposed to a harsh
environment, the Raspberry Pi computer has never failed, even
though it is a general purpose mass-produced device. The weakest
element in the chain was the GPRS/UMTS module, the reliability of
which was significantly improved using customized script for auto
reconnecting.
Having such precise real-time tidal and wind data measure-
ments obtained with 2d and 3d anemometer pilots and duty offi-
cers at the Maritime Administration better determines vessel en-
trance procedures and tugging requirements for large container
vessels approaching at significantly low under keel clearance. Pilots
have access to exact vessel distance and approaching speed wher-
ever they are located onboard the vessel. Lowering berthing energy
not only improved safety levels but changed the way of determin-
ing fender size and positioning. The integrated Laser Distance Sys-
tem has been of direct benefit for pilots, the Maritime Administra-
tion and the Port. Currently the Port of Koper plans to install such
systems at two other terminals.
Acknowledgment
We thank the Port of Koper for funding this project, which we
are confident will be very much to their benefit in the long run.
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Marko Perkovič. Diploma in Marine Engineering, Navigation and Transportation, 3 years’ experience as seafarer and 15 years as researcher, lecturer
and project manager of numerous industrial and scientific maritime projects, expertises and maritime technical cluster developments. Member of
European Commission Group of Experts on Satellite Monitoring of sea-based Oil Pollution. Member of EMSA-CleanSeaNet users group. Member of
IMO-SLF subcommittee. In 2008/09 Employed as Detached National Expert, European Commission - Joint Research Centre (Maritime Affairs Unit,
Maritime Surveillance, Safety, Security and Pollution detection task).