After a week of strong winds the MSC Mirjam departs Felixstowe with two 3212 Svitzer tugs. Svitzer Deben and Svitzer Kent are both made fast on the centre leads. About 10:30am, a Harwich Haven Pilot boarded the deep draughted MSC Cristina at the Sunk heading inbound for Berth 7. A while later another Harwich Haven Pilot boarded the MSC Mirjam alongside Berth 9.
Plan A was to wait for the MSC Cristina pass before slipping away. So as the Cristina passed the mooring gang released the 2 springs each end off the bollards. The pilot gets both tugs to pull straight off at 50% before increasing them to full power before decreasing the Deben. The pilot wanted the Mirjam to go stern first out from the berth with help of the tide and wind.
After a short while the pilot uses the bow thrusters then increases the Deben to full weight to swing the bow into the channel. As the pilot comes ahead on the main engine he gets the Kent drop in astern. Deben eases and slackens ready to let go.
The pilot did not require the Deben any longer so they headed back to the pontoon. Whereas the pilot wanted to keep the Kent fast aft for the 90 degree Beach End turn out of the harbour just incase he needs a little help steering into the North Sea.
The Port of Felixstowe has drafted in Boskalis Westminister to dredge out the harbour andhelp reclaim land in the Landguard box for the port's expansion of Berth 9.
Over recent weeks dredgers Reynaert, Causeway, Freeway and Sospan Dau have been clearing the channels in the harbour including the Landguard box after several winter storms battered the port. After several round trips from the harbour to the spoil ground in the Inner Gabbard, the Freeway made her way to the Cork anchorage where she sat for many days while in the harbour a pipeline was being created along the back end of Berths 8&9 to the northern end of Landguard Quay where the Freeway will discharge the mud she has collected from the Shipwash Bank.
The Freeway has a full load of mud heading inwards to the harbour where they very slowly edge towards the Landguard Box where a floating pipe with marker buoys and on the end of that is a heaving line. Crew onboard the Freeway go to the bow of the vessel where the contents of the hopper is discharged. They recieve the heaving line and begins to lift up the end of the floating pipe to their connector. Shortly after they commence discharging the mud. At the other end of the pipe, water and mud gushes out as a excavator moves the mud around making the water disperse back into the sea.
After discharging the Freeway releases the connector. As she backs away from pipe, orange marker buoys that have been put on the end of the pipe float on the surface.
Using the bow thrusters the Freeway swings to starboard swiftly before running ahead on the main engines to head out of the harbour for another load. A round trip to and from the harbour takes about 4 hours.
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.
MTS Valour towing the heavy lift barge Terra Marique leaves the Port of Felixstowe bound for Ellesmere Port. On Sunday 4th February a 141 tonne transformer travelled from Sizewell Nuclear power station's storage yard at Leiston to Felixstowe. With a combined weight of 274 tonnes the abnormal load was going to be moving at a very slow speed the whole way to the port.
The Terra Marique was towed from Portland by the MTS Valour into Felixstowe Sunday afternoon. Very carefully the heavy lift units with the transformer were driven onto the barge to an exact position to keep the barge stablised while in transit.
Just after 11am the MTS Valour connected up ready to tow the barge out of the harbour. A pilot onboard the tug slowly increases their power to get the barge moving. Sitting close to the Fort buoy a Harwich Haven Pilot Launch waits for the tug and tow to pass so the pilot could disembark. The voyage is expected to take 5 days to get to Ellesmere Port.
18 year old MSC Sarah prepares to depart Felixstowe Berth 4 for her next port of Antwerp. As the Maersk Essex was about to come ahead from her berth, MSC Sarah was testing her engines before departure. Thick black smoke poured from her funnel as she tested them.
One tug ordered for departure, Svitzer Deben which had finished with the Maersk Essex was sitting in Trinty 7 berth waiting for the pilot to radio them so they can help with ther departure. Pilot onboard the MSC Sarah, Svitzer Deben heads to Trinity 4 and checks if the engine has been tested and if its safe to come in to make fast aft.
Once fast, the Deben moves out to a pull position as the lines fore and aft are bought back onboard. With the last aft spring released, the pilot begins to gets the Deben take the strain and build up their power to help lift the Sarah off the berth. Moving away from the berth, the pilot goes ahead on the main engine which produced a big cloud of black smoke. Deben was released as the pilot increased the revs ahead.
