There are today great risks associated with the process of berthing large ships, especially so with oil and LNG tankers. Excess speed upon approach to jetty may cause damage to jetty structure, fenders and ship hull. Even more serious is the consequences of oil spills during loading/unloading of oil and LNG, in most cases caused by excess movement of the ship while moored. These spills constitute a great part of small and medium-size oil spills and incur great expenses for the oil and gas industry. With a great number of oil jetties in existence and a significant expected increase of LNG jetties, there is definitely a need for improved safety for harbour operations.The project idea is to develop a combined berthing aid and drift monitoring system. Based on both high-end laser distance measurement and image processing, the system will significantly increase the state of the art in port safety automation. Data from the system will be transmitted to displays, PCs and handheld devices. An alarm system will alert jetty and ship crew if there is potential danger.It is the intention of the project to:- Improve present state of the art in berthing aid systems by developing a distance measurement system that will not require distributed distance sensors as systems available today do- Introduce an opportunity to efficiently and accurately measure drift along the jetty during cargo transfer, a feature not directly available todayThe project will involve extensive development work in several research areas, including machine vision programming, laser technology, control electronics, mechanical design and automation. A large market has been identified for the introduction of the DockingMonitor system. It is anticipated that the participating SMEs will gain valuable experience and great economical benefits through the completion of this project. Close cooperation with jetty owners will ensure that the project results are commercially viable.