Emergency Towing-off Pennants or ETOP's is usually referred to as “ Fire wires,” which provide a method of towing the vessel away from the berth in the event of an emergency. The intent of rigging fire wires or emergency towing pennants is to facilitate the movement of the vessel by tugs without the necessity of putting people on board to rig lines. In other words, it is used to assist tugs in the removal of the ship without the intervention of any crew member. Recommendations MEG 4 (4.7 Emergency tow-off pennants) OCIMF does not support the use of emergency tow off pennants although some … [Read more...]