A bollard is a sturdy vertical post fixed to a quay, pier, or wharf, used to secure a ship’s mooring lines once alongside.
Bollard vs Bitts
- Bollard — the shore-side fitting, fixed to the quay or pier
- Bitts — the equivalent paired-post fitting aboard the ship itself
Both serve the same essential function — securing mooring lines under load — but bollard specifically refers to the shore-side fitting a ship’s lines are made fast to.
How Lines Are Secured
Mooring lines from the ship are led to bollards on the quay and made fast, often in a figure-eight or similar wrapping pattern that allows secure holding under load while still permitting controlled adjustment or release when needed.
Bollard Pull
In towage and tug operations, “bollard pull” is a specific measured rating of a tug’s towing capability — the maximum steady pulling force a tug can exert, measured with the tug’s line made fast to a fixed bollard. This is a standard, quoted specification for tugs used in ship assistance and offshore operations.
Construction and Loading
Bollards are engineered to withstand very high loads, given the forces involved when securing a large vessel, particularly in wind, current, or when a tug is actively working alongside — port infrastructure design accounts for these loads as a genuine structural engineering requirement, not an afterthought.
Why Deck Officers Need to Understand Bollards
Proper mooring line arrangement — which bollards are used, at what angles, and how many lines — directly affects how securely a vessel is held alongside, relevant to both routine berthing and severe weather mooring plans.
Exam Relevance
Bollard function, and its relationship to mooring arrangements and bollard pull ratings for tugs, are covered within Ship Handling and Ship Knowledge topics in deck officer competency exams.