Why is the Liberty getting assistance by a tug?

[epcopres]

On webcam a tug is pulling Liberty anyone know why

[falkcor]

not sure, but it was... looked like she needed help to turn around but is under way now?

 

http://www.portcanaveralwebcam.com/

[chengkp75]

It seems like the last week, a lot of ships have had difficulty getting off the dock in PC. Seems that either the wind or the current in the ICW is tending to pin them to the dock, so the tug assist until the ship makes the turn. From the palms, it looks like its quite windy.

[VenusLady]

It must be windy, as it looks like it is leaning slightly

[falkcor]

 

 

[GUT2407]

Probably wind or current. in Dec it took 3 tugs to try and get Diamond Princess off the dock n Melbourne, and they still couldn't the wind just held her firm.

[falkcor]

definitely looks like she's listing starboard as well

 

 

[noleguy84]

That is quite odd. Just watched the FOS leave and it did not require a tug.

[chengkp75]

Liberty is a propeller and rudder ship, while FOS has pods. So, even with 3 stern thrusters (maybe 1.8-2.0 Mw), she doesn't have the stern thrust of the FOS with 2 azipods with 17Mw each. They can use the propellers and rudders to walk a ship sideways, but if the distance between ships was a little tight, they don't want to do this too strongly.

 

It looked like the tug was going to the ship in front of FOS for assist as well.

Edited February 15, 2015 by chengkp75

[Planner48]

I was in an aft balcony this morning when we docked. As I watched from my balcony the tug appeared on the starboard rear corner as we were about halfway into the channel. There is a lot of dredging and channel widening going on and it appeared as the tug was there for assistance as it did give a few gentle pushes to the rear of the ship. I had never seen this before and it did not happen at any of the other ports.

[broberts]

definitely looks like she's listing starboard as well

 

From the looks of the palm, I suspect the slight list is being caused by the wind.

Edited February 16, 2015 by broberts

[OCruisers]

Did she finally get out all right?

[amready]

When we were on the liberty on the January 24th sailing and we had a tug when we were leaving also.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Edited February 16, 2015 by amready

[chengkp75]

Did she finally get out all right?

 

Yeah, no delay or problems. The tug would have been ordered a couple of hours prior to departure, given the weather, and would have been standing by at the time they started letting lines go. A few more thousand horsepower does wonders.