Gangway

A gangway is the means of getting safely on and off a ship when it is alongside a berth or another vessel — the walkway, ramp or ladder that bridges the gap between the ship and the quay. The term covers several arrangements: the accommodation ladder, a stairway that is rigged down the ship's side to a platform near the waterline or the quay, and the brow or gangway proper, a walkway rigged from the deck to the shore. Whatever the form, its job is to give crew, pilots, officials, surveyors, stevedores and visitors a safe path between ship and shore, and it must be rigged and tended so that people do not fall between the ship and the quay or into the water.

Because access points are a common site of accidents, the safe rigging of the gangway is taken seriously. It must be properly secured and adjusted as the ship rises and falls with the tide and changes draught during cargo work, fitted with handrails and, where needed, a safety net rigged beneath it to catch anyone who slips, and well lit at night. A lifebuoy with a line is kept ready nearby. The angle and position of the gangway are watched so it is not left at a dangerous slope or bearing on the quay edge.

The gangway is also central to ship security. Under the ISPS Code, controlling who comes aboard is a key security measure, so the gangway is the point at which access to the ship is watched and controlled: a gangway watch is kept, visitors are identified and recorded, and the security level determines how strictly access is managed. The gangway is therefore both a safety-critical piece of equipment for movement between ship and shore and the controlled doorway through which the ship manages who is allowed aboard.