UASC Al Khor arriving at Felixstowe with assistance of Svitzer Kent 7th May 2017

UASC Al Khor arrives to the Port of Felixstowe with the assistance of Svitzer Kent.  UASC Al Khor was built in 2015 at Hanjin Heavy Industries, Subic Bay in the Philippines. She is being chartered to UASC At 299.95 metres by 48.2m she has a capacity of 9115TEU of which 500TEU are for reefers. Her MAN B&W 8G95ME-C 9.5 engine kicks out 41400kW of power and a bow thruster rated at 3000kW.

The pilot boards the UASC Al Khor at the Sunk Pilot Station around 12 nautical miles out in the North Sea. As she makes her way inwards the pilot request one tug for berthing to meet outside the harbour before the Beach End turn into the harbour. Svitzer Kent heads out to be made fast on the centre lead aft. Appearing around the 90deg turn into the harbour the Al Khor comes round on a northerly heading towards the middle of harbour for a port swing.

Approaching the Shotley Spit the pilot gets the Kent to come out on the starboard side at 50% to start the swing. The Kent radios the pilot as they were finding it hard to go out as there was still a lot of headway, the pilot replies that the speed was coming off but still around 5 knots of headway. The Kent increases to 75% as the swing picks up momentum. The pilot goes astern on the main engine to back up towards her berth.

Passing the MSC Adelaide in Berth 5 the pilot radios the berthing master to find out where the bridge position was and what the tie up requirements were which was 4 and 2 with spring lines first fore and aft.