A promising variant of a single-point mooring device for carrying out cargo operations with oil in freezing seas.

Options for the construction of oil loading terminals are being considered. Special attention is paid to the use of single-point berths, which are widely used in world practice. The vast majority of such terminals use floating hoses, which are connected by their tail through flanges to standard manifolds located in the central part of the tanker hull (conventional loading). In winter conditions, such a scheme of cargo operations is subject to serious risks. To avoid it, Russian ports in the Arctic and the Far East use single-point tower-type berths with an outboard shroud, which is mounted on the bow loading system without touching the water. After bans were imposed on the use of a tanker fleet with a bow loading system, some operators of mooring systems faced the question of year-round use of conventional tanker loading using floating hoses. The results of an analysis of the risks associated with the use of floating hoses in winter conditions in the presence of ice in relation to existing single-point oil shipment systems are presented. The most dangerous situations are considered to be the impact of drifting ice on a floating hose during loading, as well as the relative movement of an ice mass with a hose frozen in it between cargo operations, which is quite a likely situation in a harsh winter. As the main principle of minimizing risks in prospective and existing terminals, it is proposed to avoid direct contact of the hose line with the water surface and with ice, changing its residual buoyancy to near-neutral values.