OPTIMOOR is a user-friendly mooring analysis software developed by Tension Technology International (TTI), tailored for maritime professionals including vessel operators, terminal personnel, port designers, and naval architects. It simulates dynamic mooring forces on ships at berths, calculating line tensions, bollard loads, fender forces, and ship motions under environmental loads like wind, waves, currents, and tides. Based on OCIMF (Oil Companies International Marine Forum) recommendations, OPTIMOOR uses empirical coefficients for wind and current on tankers and other vessels, enabling quick assessments of mooring arrangements to ensure safety and compliance with standards like PIANC and BS 6349. The tool supports both quasi-static and dynamic analyses, making it essential for berth design, incident investigations, and operational planning in ports, offshore terminals, and ship-to-ship transfers.
OPTIMOOR runs on Windows platforms, featuring an intuitive interface with graphical outputs for mooring layouts, force roses, and time-domain simulations. It’s widely used in the oil & gas, shipping, and marine engineering sectors to prevent accidents from excessive loads or line failures.
Key Features
- Mooring Simulations: Models catenary lines (e.g., polyester, HMPE, chain), thrusters, fenders, and ship-to-ship (STS) configurations; accounts for cyclic loading effects on rope stiffness.
- Environmental Modeling: Wind/current sweeps, wave spectra (e.g., JONSWAP), tide variations, and combined loads; supports limit roses for safe operating envelopes.
- Vessel and Berth Data: Libraries for 100+ vessel types (tankers, LNG carriers, bulkers); customizable berth geometries with dolphins and breakwaters.
- Analysis Tools: Sensitivity studies, export to CSV/Excel for further processing, and reporting for audits.
- Standards Integration: OCIMF Mooring Equipment Guidelines (MEG4), with options for custom coefficients.
OPTIMOOR v6.9.5 Specifics
As of October 2025, OPTIMOOR v6.9.5 represents a minor patch release in the 6.9 series, building on v6.9.1 (late 2023) which introduced the beta version of OPTIMOOR 3D for enhanced visualization of 3D mooring geometries and ship attitudes. This version focuses on stability, minor algorithmic refinements, and user-requested fixes, particularly for dynamic wave loading in STS operations and high-fidelity line tension calculations under cyclic fatigue. Key updates include:
- 3D Enhancements: Improved rendering for multi-body interactions in ship-to-ship and tandem moorings, with better handling of 6-DOF (degrees of freedom) ship motions.
- Performance Optimizations: Faster convergence in time-domain simulations for large models (e.g., VLCCs in extreme weather), reducing runtimes by 10-15% on modern hardware.
- Bug Fixes: Resolved issues with wave-induced surge calculations in shallow water and export errors for force rose data; updated demo files to reflect v6.9.1+ changes.
- Usability Tweaks: Enhanced GUI for berth editing, including drag-and-drop for fender placement, and expanded help documentation for MEG4 compliance checks.
- New Demo Alignment: The free demo version now mirrors v6.9.5 features, allowing trial of 3D previews without a full license.
