What Are Single Point Moorings?

Avoid the hassle and frustration of constantly entering port and mooring to a pier. If you have liquid cargo servicing a regular route, single point moorings may be your best convenience. A single point mooring is a floating buoy, secured outside the harbor. These are commonly used for crude oil carriers. The tanker approaches the single...

Avoid the hassle and frustration of constantly entering port and mooring to a pier. If you have liquid cargo servicing a regular route, single point moorings may be your best convenience. A single point mooring is a floating buoy, secured outside the harbor. These are commonly used for crude oil carriers.

The tanker approaches the single point mooring (SPM),
Tanker picks up a hawser from the SPM
Tank hooks into that single hawser.

The tanker is then free to weathervane around the SPM and remains secured, all without the trouble of entering harbor and risking collision in congested harbor traffic. But the best part is what happens next.

The SPM is also an oil terminal! Risers connect to a pipeline on the seabed, near the SPM location. These risers travel up to the SPM, allowing sufficient slack for SPM motions in waves. The SPM then provides a set of floating hoses which attach to the vessel manifold. The vessel connects and can completely discharge its cargo, all in the free maneuvering area of the open ocean. Neat!