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Maritime & Shipping vocabulary · Deck Work & Seamanship

Mooring line

Meaning in maritime & shipping, with examples

nounCore term

In maritime & shipping, mooring line means: A strong rope or wire used to tie a ship to a quay, a buoy or another ship. Lines are named by their position, such as head line, stern line, breast line and spring.

In Turkish: palamar, bağlama halatı, halat

How it is used

Used in mooring and unmooring orders: send, heave in, slack away, single up and let go the lines. In port the watch checks and adjusts the mooring lines as the tide and draught change.

Example sentences

  1. Check the mooring lines every hour while we are discharging.

  2. One of the mooring lines parted during the storm, so we sent an extra line.

Common collocations

  • send the mooring lines
  • slack away
  • single up
  • let go the mooring lines
  • snap-back zone
  • bollardA short, thick post of steel or iron on a quay or on a ship's deck, to which mooring lines are made fast.
  • make fastTo tie or secure a rope, a line or a tug firmly so that it holds, for example to a bollard, a cleat or the ship's side.
  • fenderA cushion made of rubber, foam or rope that is placed between a ship and a quay, or between two ships, to absorb impact and prevent damage.
  • berthA place in a port where a ship ties up to load or discharge. As a verb, to berth means to bring a ship to that place. The word can also mean a bed on a ship.
  • tugA small but very powerful boat that pushes or pulls large ships, especially when they are berthing, unberthing or moving in narrow waters.

More terms: Deck Work & Seamanship

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