Features of fender protection application on uncrewed port tugs

In this paper, the variants of the fender protection of traditional port tugs and the possibility of using this protection on unmanned vessels of such type are considered; the main elements of such protection are investigated. At present, the technical level of mechanisms, instruments and software allows creating unmanned and crewless vessels. One of the promising directions in the development of such vessels is port tugs, since having relatively large river and sea vessels they perform production tasks in the port water area and approaches to it. An integral part of the work of a port barthing tug or escort tug is bulks and approaches in tight to the towed object or vessel. The combination of a small size, the nature of the tasks performed and the widespread use of such vessels is one of the positive factors for the introduction of unmanned technologies on these vessels. There is a wealth of experience in equipping traditional port tugs with different types of fender protection, which is advisable to use to determine the equipment of unmanned vessels. The fender protection must be installed depending on the conditions in which production tasks will be performed, in addition, high operational requirements must be imposed on the fenders, due to the absence of people on board who can fix the separation of the protection and take measures to replace it in a timely manner. These conditions may depend on the types of production tasks that an unmanned port tug will perform. For example, the mooring of a bulk carrier and a tanker has some features, and entails the need to change the fender protection. Also, the various designs of the fender protection elements currently used on port tugs are analyzed in the paper. It allows structuring the main features when choosing a fender protection for an unmanned port tug, such as the towing method, the size of the tug, the size of the contact spot and other conditions. 

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