Various of Marine Ladders

Various of Marine Ladders

Marine ladder is the passageway facility of the ship, and it can be divided into internal ladder and external ladder.

The internal ladders are placed on the decks, platforms or double bottoms of the ship, as the fixed easily access facilities, such as inclined ladders, straight ladders and steps. The stairway inside the modern ship is closely related to the setting of the escape route. There are clear and strict regulations on the relevant conventions, rules and norms. Internal ladders must be made of steel or other equivalent materials approved by the marine inspection departments.

Inclined ladders are the most commonly used vertical passageway in the ship between decks. According to its using places, it can be divided into ordinary steel inclined ladder, cargo cabin inclined ladder and engine room inclined ladder,etc.

Vertical ladders are another type of vertical passageway inside a ship. They are usually used for liquid tanks, empty tanks, and places where personnel do not access often. According to its manufacturing materials, vertical ladders can be divided into steel ladder and aluminum ladder. Ordinary steel ladder is usually used in sea (fresh) water tanks, empty tanks, mast, derrick column, deck room top side and cabin space where people do not often go up and down or access.

The external/outboard ladders, such as accommodation ladder, embarkation gangway, bulwark ladder, pilot ladder and so on, are the movable access facility, and connected with the outside world. 

Gangway is the passageway between the ship and the outside world as well. Passenger ships should set up gangway, so does other large and medium-sized types, while small ships generally don’t. The gangway is generally arranged at the edge of the lowest deck passageway of the ship's both sides, which are not closed by the hull plating. These are usually provided for each side port according to the size and usage. Large passenger ships should consider installing two gangways per side.

Embarkation gangway is the external channel facilities when the ship docks, especially for small ships, because of its small freeboard, which is inadvisable to set up gangway, usually set up embarkation gangway for personnel up and down. According to its material of main structure, it can be divided into: wood, steel and aluminum embarkation gangway. It can use steel frame plank structure as well. The advantage of aluminum embarkation gangway is light weight and corrosion resistance.

Bulwark ladder is also the ship's external access facility. When the ship is docked, the support frame of the bulwark ladder is fixed with the bulwark roof or railing handrail, so that it can be used together with the boarding springboard for the personnel to go up and down. The bulwark ladder can also be used in conjunction with the pilot rope ladder to serve as a safe passageway for the pilot to board and leave the ship. The bulwark ladder can be made of steel and aluminum, and the structure is similar.

Embarkation rope ladder is the boarding device of the lifeboat, which is hung outboard for people to board lifeboats when the ship is abandoned in a shipwreck. There are 10 ~ 60 steps, and the length (L) is 3.1 ~ 18.5 meters. The pedal boards may be made of aluminum or wood, but at the bottom 4 steps, it should be made of rubber.