Design vessel particulars for UAE marina infrastructure

Design vessel particulars, including length overall (LOA) and beam, are fundamental inputs to marina planning and marine infrastructure design. Existing industry references for small craft provide limited region-specific data and may not accurately reflect vessel characteristics in the UAE. This study characterises vessels accommodated within 40 UAE marinas using satellite imagery to identify vessel types and measure LOA and beam. The analysis establishes the predominant vessel types and LOA distributions observed across the surveyed UAE marina sample. Region-specific beam-to-LOA relationships were developed for motorboats and other small craft, with measured beam values for mono-hull motorboats found to be generally lower than those presented in commonly used international marina design references. A verification exercise was undertaken using physical vessel measurements, industry benchmark data, and fixed reference points. This confirmed that the satellite-based measurement method achieved a suitable degree of accuracy for the purpose of assessment of vessel particulars. The study presents a structured methodology for remote vessel measurement and provides region-specific small craft data for the UAE. The resulting datasets and beam-to-LOA plots support improved understanding of the vessel population currently accommodated within UAE marinas.