Tugs play a critical role in maintaining control of large vessels during bad weather, when wind, swell, and tidal forces quickly overwhelm a ship’s own manoeuvring ability. High-sided vessels such as container ships, RoRos and cruise ships present huge windage areas, causing the bow or stern to fall off rapidly in crosswinds. At low speeds, rudders and bow thrusters lose effectiveness, leaving pilots with limited means to counter drift, yaw or surge. In these conditions, tugs provide the cont...
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Tugs play a critical role in maintaining control of large vessels during bad weather, when wind, swell, and tidal forces quickly overwhelm a ship’s own manoeuvring ability. High-sided vessels such as container ships, RoRos and cruise ships present huge windage areas, causing the bow or stern to fall off rapidly in crosswinds. At low speeds, rudders and bow thrusters lose effectiveness, leaving pilots with limited means to counter drift, yaw or surge. In these conditions, tugs provide the cont...
A bow thruster is a transversal propulsion device installed in the forward (bow) section of a ship, allowing it to move laterally (sideways) without forward motion. It is especially valuable for low-speed manoeuvres such as berthing, unberthing, or holding position in dynamic positioning (DP) systems. While it greatly aids ship handling, it comes with several limitations. The bow thruster was first developed in the mid-20th century to improve low-speed manoeuvrability in increasingly larger s...
The Maritime Education Podcast
Tugs play a critical role in maintaining control of large vessels during bad weather, when wind, swell, and tidal forces quickly overwhelm a ship’s own manoeuvring ability. High-sided vessels such as container ships, RoRos and cruise ships present huge windage areas, causing the bow or stern to fall off rapidly in crosswinds. At low speeds, rudders and bow thrusters lose effectiveness, leaving pilots with limited means to counter drift, yaw or surge. In these conditions, tugs provide the cont...
