Patent ID: 7461611

Claim:
A berthing facility for use in moving vehicles between a bow/stern-loading ferry floating in a body of water and a shore facility, the berthing facility comprising: a) a floating pontoon having a bow/stern receiving section for receiving the bow or stern of a bow/stern-loading ferry, and a projecting finger against which may lie a side of a ferry having its bow or stern at the receiving section; b) means for pivotally securing the bow/stern receiving section wherein the pontoon may pivot about a pivot axis in the vicinity of the bow/stern receiving section comprising: i) a generally vertically oriented pylon, attached to the ground under the water and sized to project from the water surface; and ii) a pylon opening in the pontoon, having inner walls within which the pylon is disposed; c) means for maintaining the projecting finger and thus the pontoon in a preferred pivotal orientation wherein the means resiliently resists lateral movement of the projecting finger from the preferred orientation; d) a ramp having a shore end and a pontoon end, and having a vehicle pathway wherein vehicles may be driven on the vehicle pathway along the ramp; e) means at a shore facility for pivotally supporting the ramp shore end; and f) means at the pontoon in the vicinity of the bow/stern receiving section for pivotally supporting the ramp pontoon end; wherein, in use, force associated with a ferry impacting the projecting finger during a docking maneuver may be absorbed through lateral movement of the projecting finger; the ramp may pivot relative to the shore facility about a generally horizontal axis and relative to the pontoon about another generally horizontal axis so as to accommodate changes in water level relative to the shore facility, and the ramp may be used to convey vehicles between a shore facility and a bow/stern-loading ferry having its bow or stern at the receiving section.