23 March 2009

Arriving in Hamburg

The trip to Hamburg was comparatively short and we were favored with clear skies and smooth seas. We reached the pilot station about 20:00 Friday and commenced our long trip up the Elbe.

I was interested to see our maneuvering in the port area so shortly before 02:00 on Saturday the 2nd Officer called me to let me know we were approaching the Koehlbrandbruecke, or Koehlbrand Bridge. I made my way to the ship's bridge in time to see two tugs join us, one at the stem and the other at the stern. With their assistance and that of the two pilots on board we were guided under the center of the bridge.

It was a close fit and it was obvious to see how important the timing of such maneuvers were given the fluctuations in the tides. Once we were clear of that bridge we proceeded a short distance further within the port until we reached a turning area. The two tugs pivoted us just about 180 degrees until our stern was pointing down the channel leading to our berth. The turning was very smooth, but there is something strange about having a 192 meter ship spinning about.

Our stern now pointing in the right direction, the two tugs guided us down the narrow channel. The clearance to the berths and their barges on the sides was measured in meters and even cranes for loading and discharging cargo were pulled in and made fast to some of the buildings to allow for the free passage of the larger ships. The channel was also quite shallow. Most of the time we had less than three meters beneath our keel, and on some stretches barely two.

The narrowest part was still to come as we reached the Rethe Lifting Bridge. Not only was it a very snug fit for our ship to pass between the two towers, but the bridge itself was on an angle to the channel which meant that the tugs had to wait until the last instant before adjusting the ship's angle so she would slip between the bridge towers and underneath the raised roadway. The Captain later mentioned that it is actually a more challenging maneuver without winds or currents as there is nothing resisting the movement of the ship. This means each action of the tugs needs to then be counteracted to prevent momentum from moving the ship too far in any one direction. Of course all of this took place in the space of a few hundred meters; it was only the constant movement back and forth of the tugs as they aligned us for the passage that gave any clue to the difficulty.

We continued our backwards journey to our berth at the Wallmann Terminal. Since it was now about 03:00 I opted to return to my cabin and go back to sleep. I was very happy to have been able to watch these maneuvers as it's something that we normally take for granted. I was overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of the port area with its many channels, wharves and cranes for all the different products that make their way through the port. Given the narrowness of the passage I can only imagine the effort required to simply coordinate and manage the ship and barge traffic.

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