Modification of Surface Buoy to Preserve Under Water Habitat in Raja Ampat

Abstract

The ecosystem of the seabed is threatened by anchoring operations. Modifications were required to
reduce the damage to seabed biodiversity. A laid chain on a mooring system is one of the causes of
damage to the seabed environment. In this paper, six mooring configurations are studied to achieve the
optimum configuration on the moored vessel KM Putri Mandiri based on the chain length laid, the
tension chain, and the vessel offset. The benefit of this study is to preserve the underwater habitat in Raja
Ampat. The quantities and buoyancy capacities of the surface buoy are used as variable designs in this
study. Ansys Aqwa software is utilized to calculate mooring systems with environmental conditions,
water depth 15 m, wave height 1.5 m, wind velocity 15 knots, and sea current speed of 1 m/s. The results
showed that more surface buoys caused lower laid chain length and closer ship offset but increased
tension chain. Configuration E, which consists of 3 surface buoys, was the optimum configuration for this
study.