Behaviour of moored ships in Azorean ports during hurricanes Lorenzo and Elsa

Abstract

This work presents the results of numerical simulations of two ferry ships moored inside two ports of Pico’s Island: São Roque and Madalena, during the recent passage of two major storms in the Northern Atlantic in 2019, namely Hurricane Lorenzo, 2-5 October and the Elsa depression, 19-22 December. Within the scope of the ECOMARPORT project, an alert system for the risks of moored ships in ports is under development. This system allows a 72-hour forecast of the effects of atmospheric and wave conditions in the behaviour of moored ships, more specifically, their movements and forces in the mooring system. The comparison of these results with the safety and operational limits of the port terminal makes it possible to assess the risk and take preventive measures. The results obtained in each of the ports allows to compare the effectiveness of the proposed mooring.