The gangway is the ramp or stairway providing access between a ship and the shore (or another vessel), used by crew, visitors, and port personnel to board and disembark.
Gangway Safety Requirements
- Proper rigging — correct angle, secure attachment at both ends, adjusted as tide changes the vessel’s height relative to the quay
- Safety net — rigged beneath the gangway to catch a person who might fall, a real, mandatory precaution
- Adequate lighting — particularly important at night, given the fall risk of navigating a gangway in poor visibility
- Non-slip surface and handrails — basic but genuinely important safety features, especially in wet weather
Gangway Watch
A continuously staffed gangway watch is standard practice, particularly under ISPS Code security requirements — the person on gangway watch controls access to the vessel, logs visitors, and monitors the gangway’s physical condition and rigging throughout the port stay. This isn’t a passive post; it’s an active security and safety responsibility.
ISPS Security Role
Under the ISPS Code, gangway watch is a frontline security function — verifying identification of anyone boarding, maintaining a visitor log, and monitoring for unauthorized access attempts, directly tied to the vessel’s overall security level (1, 2, or 3) at that time.
Why Gangway Incidents Happen
Falls from gangways — due to inadequate rigging, poor lighting, missing safety nets, or simple inattention — are a real, documented category of maritime injury, which is exactly why gangway condition and rigging are checked items during vessel inspections, not treated as a minor operational detail.
Adjusting for Tide
As tide changes, the vessel’s freeboard relative to the quay changes, requiring the gangway watch to monitor and adjust the gangway’s angle and rigging throughout a port stay — a gangway rigged correctly at high tide can become dangerously steep or even come loose at low tide if not actively monitored.
Exam Relevance
Gangway safety requirements, watch responsibilities, and ISPS security duties are core Ship Knowledge and Safety topics in deck officer competency exams.