OOCL United Kingdom departs Felixstowe Berth 8 with the assistance of two Svitzer tugs 7th February

The OOCL United Kingdom prepares to sail from the Port of Felixstowe on a bitterly cold afternoon. Usually vessels on the LL1 route travel straight from Singapore to Felixstowe then head to Rotterdam, Gdansk, Wilhemshaven and then back to Felixstowe about 10 day after the first visit before heading East towards the Suez Canal for Singapore. For some reason the OOCL United Kingdom has made an additional call to Rotterdam before heading to Singapore.

The OOCL United Kingdom was the 4th vessel out of 6 to be built in OOCL G Class ships and currently the whole class is holding the Guinness World Record for the largest container ship by capacity afloat each being able to carry a colossal 21,413TEU (twenty foot containers).

Cargo operations complete, the last crane booms up as the Harwich Haven Pilot radios Harwich VTS. The pilot requests the mooring gang and the two tugs that were previosly ordered for departure. Svitzer Deben and Svitzer Shotley leave the tug pontoon to assist the pilot with the departure. 

Svitzer Deben positions astern to make fast centre lead aft and the Svitzer Shotley heads towards the bow to make fast centre lead forward. Once positioned the fore and aft lines were slackened and winched back aboard. Just down to springs, the tugs get ready to pull her clear of the berth. A problem with the aft spring was causing a bit of an issue. The pilot gets the Shotley to pull slightly away from the berth just to keep the bow off the fenders. The aft spring issue resolved, the pilot commences with the departure with getting the Deben to pull aft of the beam as a Northerly wind was pushing on the stern. After a few minutes of pulling at a steady weight the pilot increases the Deben to full power to help get the stern into the channel. Up the bow, Svitzer Shotley pulling at minimum increases to half power to keep the bow moving before increasing again to swing the bow into the channel.

The pilot starts to come ahead on the main engine as he gets both tugs to stop towing and Shotley to move right ahead ready to let go. Shotley slackens up and positions under the bow to recieve their towing line, as the end of line drops into the water from the bow of the United Kingdom they begin to increase a few knots astern then peel off onto the Harwich side as the rest of the gear is winched back onboard. The Deben drops in astern as the OOCL United Kingdom proceeds ahead towards the Beach End. 

The pilot kept the Deben fast aft  until they were safely around the corner out of the harbour but before then the Deben had to perform a risky but essential maneoeure to help the stern swing around the 90 degree Beach End at the enterance of the harbour. The pilot gets the Deben to move out onto the starboard quarter for a powered indirect. Deben begins to lean over at about a 15 degree angle as they increases their power. Once they are out into the North Sea the Deben eases up and positions very close to the transom to collect their tow line.

Last year Felixstowe welcomed over 130 mega ships. To help the ships enter or depart Felixstowe,  Svitzer have 4 state of the art tugs ready to assist any ship to the harbour.  2018 is expected to be bright for Felixstowe as a project to heighten 10 ZMPC cranes so the port can handle 4 of the largest ships at the same time.