I must apologise for the shaky footage as the wind began to freshen as she was swinging.
Maersk Guatemala arrives to the Port of Felixstowe from Antwerp. Normally vessels on this service come straight from Tangier Med in Morocco but as there was a bit of congestion Maersk decided to switch Felixstowe and Antwerp around to ease delays.
With a draught of 13.3 metres the Maersk Guatemala, one of Maersk's Space saver vessels, she was planned port side to Felixstowe's Trinity Terminal berth 6. A Harwich Haven pilot boards the Guatemala at the Sunk Pilot Station where the inbound voyage begins. Once onboard he radios Harwich VTS to say they were inbound with for Felixstowe Trinity 6 and would like two tug for berthing.
Svitzer Kent leaves the harbour first to be the centre lead aft tug and the Innovation leaves shortly after to make fast on a bow to bow inside the harbour. Safely inside the harbour Kent is used as a brake to help slow the ship down. Further up the harbour, the pilot runs the main engine astern then gets the Kent to build move out onto the starboard quarter ready to swing the stern. While up the bow, Innovation moves onto the port shoulder and starts to take her around.
As the ship swings the wind begins to play it's part and the Kent increases their power to help battle the wind. Swung around, the pilot runs the engine astern to back her up towards the berth but as the wind was a freshening Southerly, both tugs are held in check position to keep good distance away from the ships alongside Tinity Terminal.
Just as they were getting in position, the Innovation was released from forward and pushes up just in front of the accommodation block while the Kent pushes up on the starboard quarter aswell until they were alongside making fast.
Published on 7 Aug 2018
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