Ship simulation Port Phillip Heads in the Heads and how real ships behave. They are – also familiar with the Australian Maritime College simulator and its limitations, for instance the To better understand the size of ship that could to introduce random currents or simulator’s inability safely access the Heads, our navigation study sudden failures of a gear. Both of these ship’s included a ship simulation at the Australian situations have occurred during transits of the Maritime College Maritime Simulation Centre in Heads. The pilots are able to consider the simulator Tasmania. The ship simulation was to determine limitations when deciding if a simulated transit was a two things: success. What size vessel could safely transit the Heads with its current configuration? We conducted a number of simulator runs to What channel upgrades would be required account for different ship sizes and different tidal to allow some of the largest vessels in the conditions. In all, 28 transits of the Heads were world 18,500 TEU capacity and 400 – simulated with three different ship sizes, including at metres long to safely transit the Heads? – different times in the tidal cycle: in-bound, The ship simulator is analogous to a flight flood tide and ebb tide. Table 3 describes simulator. It consists of a full size mock-up of a the result of these navigation simulations. bridge with a wrap-around video screen ship’s showing the view forward and to either side and The 8,500 vessel could safely transit the Heads includes all navigation instruments, steering and using existing channels in low current window engine controls. around slack water. Slack water is the point in the tidal cycle where the level of water inside the bay Our simulations were piloted by professional Port and outside the bay are equal, resulting in very low Phillip Sea Pilots, who specialise in guiding ships tidal currents. Slack water occurs approximately in and out of Port Phillip Bay. These pilots are every six hours. familiar with the conditions Table 3. Results of navigation simulations Vessel Length (m) Beam (m) Draught (m) TEU Result Ital Cortesia 334 48.2 13 8,500 Vessel could Old Post safely transit the Panamax Heads using plus existing channels in low current window around slack water. Current limit: 3 to 4 knots, depending on tide and direction MSC 366 51.2 13.5 14,000 Vessel could Daniela safely transit the New Post Heads using Panamax existing channels in low current window around slack
Ship simulation – Port Phillip Heads To better understand the size of ship that could safely access the Heads, our navigation study included a ship simulation at the Australian Maritime College Maritime Simulation Centre in Tasmania. The ship simulation was to determine two things: What size vessel could safely transit the Heads with its current configuration? What channel upgrades would be required to allow some of the largest vessels in the world – 18,500 TEU capacity and 400 metres long – to safely transit the Heads? The ship simulator is analogous to a flight simulator. It consists of a full size mock-up of a ship’s bridge with a wrap-around video screen showing the view forward and to either side and includes all navigation instruments, steering and engine controls. Our simulations were piloted by professional Port Phillip Sea Pilots, who specialise in guiding ships in and out of Port Phillip Bay. These pilots are familiar with the conditions in the Heads and how real ships behave. They are also familiar with the Australian Maritime College simulator and its limitations, for instance the simulator’s inability to introduce random currents or sudden failures of a ship’s gear. Both of these situations have occurred during transits of the Heads. The pilots are able to consider the simulator limitations when deciding if a simulated transit was a success. We conducted a number of simulator runs to account for different ship sizes and different tidal conditions. In all, 28 transits of the Heads were simulated with three different ship sizes, including at different times in the tidal cycle: in-bound, flood tide and ebb tide. Table 3 describes the result of these navigation simulations. The 8,500 vessel could safely transit the Heads using existing channels in low current window around slack water. Slack water is the point in the tidal cycle where the level of water inside the bay and outside the bay are equal, resulting in very low tidal currents. Slack water occurs approximately every six hours. Table 3. Results of navigation simulations Vessel Length (m) Beam (m) Draught (m) TEU Result Ital Cortesia Old Post Panamax plus 334 48.2 13 8,500 Vessel could safely transit the Heads using existing channels in low current window around slack water. Current limit: 3 to 4 knots, depending on tide and direction MSC Daniela New Post Panamax 366 51.2 13.5 14,000 Vessel could safely transit the Heads using existing channels in low current window around slack
Advice_on_securing_Victorias_ports_-_accessible_version_-_FINAL.docx