The shipping industry has always been concerned with safe mooring practices. A fundamental aspect of this concern entails the development of mooring systems which are adequate for the intended service, with maximum integration of standards across the range of ship types and sizes. Although numerous standards, guidelines and recommendations concerning mooring practices, mooring fittings and mooring equipment exist, where guidance is given or it is often incomplete. For example, the number of hawsers and their breaking strength may be recommended without any advice on mooring winch pulling force or brake holding capacity. These guidelines are intended to provide an extensive overview of the requirements for safe mooring from both a ship and terminal perspective embrace the full spectrum of issues from the calculation of a ship's restraint requirements, the selection of rope and fitting types to the retirement criteria for mooring lines.