INAABSA bromborough

[John Arton]

There are a number of ports around the U.K where ships sit safely on the bottom , hence the title of the thread, not always afloat but safely around.
But even Indiana Jones couldn't prevent this.
Rgds
J.A
https://www.tradewindsnews.com/casua...d-/2-1-1584602

[Peter Gill]

Yes indeed there are NAABSA berths in all sorts of places. I understand that St. Sampson's in Guernsey is the only place in the world where oil tankers discharge, dried out completely. The ships arrive at High tide with a current of four knots and more across the harbour entrance. It's hairy stuff requiring a pilot with a decent nerve. Once alongside it's not long before the tide has dropped for the ship to be sitting safely on the bottom. The low tide mark is something like 200 metres away from the berths. You can walk on the harbour bottom past ships tied up, - if you don't mind the stinky gluey mud too much. It makes a bit of a joke of the strict access and security regs. A day or two before a ship is due, a heavy duty digger is driven up and down the berth and ensures that the seabed is flat, ready for the ship to sit safely. There has only been one -unsuccessful- claim as regards an unsafe berth at St Sampson in the last fifty years and that was from a ship loaded with sand. In the good old days, (the 60's and 70's) they held "Nautocross" racing - old bangers seriously modified to deal with the mud, around the harbour bottom, sometimes with ships sitting there but this was halted due to safety concerns.

[j.sabourn]

Would bear making oneself aware of the charter party clauses then . Most charters read vessel to be able to discharge / load always afloat. If going to such ports it would have to have a clause in the C/P to be able to sit safely on the bottom. Or words to that affect. JS

[Peter Gill]

Yes indeed, there is a specific C/P clause which is, unsurprisingly called the NAABSA clause, which allows for such berths.

[J Gowers]

A similar deal was the old Clyde Puffers which ran up a beach and wait till the tide went out sit on the bottom then discharge and float again on the next tide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_puffer