1. Underkeel Clearance (UKC) Project
Marine Exchange of Southern California & Vessel Traffic Service of Los Angeles and Long Beach
Dynamic
Underkeel Clearance (UKC) Project
Senate Ocean Caucus Briefing
“Making a Difference: Why Ocean Observing Matters”
9 July 2015
Captain Kip Louttit
Executive Director &
UKC Program Manager

2. Ports of Los Angeles – Long Beach
Nation’s largest port complex
World’s 9th busiest port complex by container volume
Over $235 billion in annual trade
> 14 million TEU’s annually
47 % of containers entering U.S.
> 235 million metric tons of cargo
> 1 million passengers
~500,000 autos
> 50 % of California’s oil
~3 million jobs nationwide

3. Market segments by ship count 2010-2014
Tankers 14%
Passengers 8%
Containers 51%
Market segments generally constant
Updated: 5 Jan 2015

4. Dynamic Underkeel Clearance Project…
The Challenge…Very Large Tankers enter the Port of Long Beach
How can we reduce the risk they touch bottom?
M/V Solana passing Jacobsen (Long Beach) Pilot Station.
Length: 1,082 feet Weight: ,681 tons
Beam (width): 197 feet Maximum Draft: feet

5. Channel dredged to 76 feet
Approach to port of
Long Beach…
Channel dredged to 76 feet
Coast Guard set maximum draft to enter port at 65’
11’ clearance underkeel

6. Example: 1,100 foot tanker with 65’ draft
With Zero Pitch:
Example: 1,100 foot tanker with 65’ draft
65’ Max Draft per Coast Guard
76’ channel
11’ Under Keel Clearance
With 1 degree pitch, the draft increases 9.6 feet!
65’ Max Draft per Coast Guard
76’ channel
Result: Only 1.4 foot Under Keel Clearance!

7. The Present: GO/NO GO decision made using: CDIP Swell Warnings
Experience
Seaman’s Eye
Observed pitch & roll far enough offshore to permit “bail-out” before committing to channel
Site 18
Site 19

8. Moving to the Future… UKC Program:
Stakeholders:
& Pier 121 Users
Partners in providing critical weather, wave, and swell information to UKC:

9. The Potential Future: PROTIDE takes predicted: water levels, currents,
wave conditions,
channel depth,
course,
ship dimensions, and
vertical ship motion (roll/pitch/squat)
…and calculates the under keel clearance & bottom touch probability.
PROTIDE is now used in three harbors in the Netherlands to support the operational process (Port of Rotterdam, Port of Amsterdam & the Eemshaven).

10. Goals of Dynamic Underkeel Clearance Project
Increase safety by reducing the risk of an accidental grounding caused by the pitch or roll of a large vessel causing it to impact the bottom.
Increase efficiency by enabling ship owners and masters to adjust arrival times based on the pitch and roll program being able to predict when pitch and roll will be out of limits to enter port due to unacceptable under keel draft clearance
Reduce emissions by enabling larger ships to carry more cargo to enter the POLB, which could reduce overall stack emissions per ton of cargo arriving at the port.

11. 3 Wave Buoys provide critical local conditions to mariners & models
Picture1
3 Wave Buoys provide critical local conditions to mariners & models

12. Display at Marine Exchange. Buoys update every 30 minutes

13. Example: A 935 foot tanker weighing 230,000 tons enters Long Beach
INPUTS to PROTIDE:
1. Ship Info:
Outputs: Predicted UKC and Probability of Touch
Predicted pitch is a max of 0.75 degrees
Predicted roll is a max of degrees
Resulting Underkeel Clearance ranges from:
3.9 m at the start of the transit to
4.1 m at the end of the transit
Risk of touching bottom is:
0.020% at start of transit,
decreases to .0038% in the middle, and
increases to .0050% at the end
Request ID 11
Ship
230,000 ton VLCC (6 / T006)
Ship dimensions l / w / dwt
285 m 49 m tons
Draft f / m / a
20.46 m m m
Berth
Harbor entrance (23.16 m / Inbound)
Requested time of departure
:00
Water displacement
tons GM
7.78 m
GG'
0.4 m
Roll period
13.71 s
Estimation method used
Yes
Submitted by
Take Roes ( :29)
Determination: The transit is safe
Under Keel Clearance
Roll
Pitch
Risk of Touch
2. Environmental Info:
Water level, tide, weather, sea, and swell
Start of transit End
Start of transit End

14. Other potential UKC applications: Unique vessels, Bad weather,
Larger Container & Cruise Ships
Other ports
Ship entering
Long Beach with new cranes
Ship exiting
Long Beach in Hurricane Marie swells

15. The key to the safe movement of all vessels,
Summary:
The key to the safe movement of all vessels,
now and in the future,
is accurate and reliable, actual and predictive, weather, swell, and wave information
Questions? Comments?

16. 24 Hour Vessel Traffic Center
MX mission: 7 x 24 x 365 provide traffic management, communications, and maritime information services to promote a safe, secure, efficient, reliable, and environmentally sound marine transportation system.
MX: There when you need us most…
emergencies (fires, medical, rescue),
fog and bad weather,
natural or man made disasters, and congestion.
24 Hour Vessel Traffic Center
Watch Floor:
Twitter: @mxsocal
Point of Contact: CAPT Kip Louttit, MX SoCal Executive Director & UKC Program Manager Work: Cell:

17. End