(Excerpted from Simply Nahil: a maverick with the Midas touch , the Nahil Wijesuriya autobiography) While operating the tugs ‘MT Sigiri’ and ‘MT Nilgiri’ through Off Shore Marine Services – an East West subsidiary – a Single Point Mooring Buoy or SPMB was installed off shore from the Colombo Port. An SPMB consists of a buoy that is permanently moored to the seabed by. utilizing multiple mooring lines/anchors/chains allowing cargoes of liquid petroleum products to be transferred from tankers out at sea.
An SPM contains a bearing system that allows a part of it to rotate around the moored geostatic subsea manifold connections and weathervaning tankers. SPMs are capable of handling ships of any tonnage, including the very large crude oil carriers when no alternative facility is available. In shallow water, SPMs are used to load and unload crude oil and refined products from onshore and offshore oilfields or refineries, usually through some kind of storage facility.
These buoys are usually suitable for use by all types of oil tankers. and the moorings usually supply to dedicated tankers which can moor without assistance. Whenever a tanker brings crude oil into Colombo, she is anchored off the edge of the port and a flexible hose goes down connecting to one of the stationary pipes on the pier.
In order to secure the ship from drifting or the connected hose being damaged during bad weather, a tug is in attendance to keep the ship in place. Ever since the SPBM was instal.