The P&O berth at Rotterdam (real pics)

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

[Stuart2007]

As someone who was wondering if Rotterdam really was that tight, or if it was made harder for gameplay:





Go easy skipper...

Stu

[AlexKall]

Thank you very much, interesting to see the real world place when I just compleeted the mission a while ago!

[Stuart2007]

What time did you get on it?

I would post my time, but... err.. ahem... I appear to have managed to forget. What a shame

I've seen 2 shi[s trying to manouver past each other in Portsmouth, before turning in a tight space. But this is a tiny berth.

Stu

[James89uk]

Having sailed in and out of Portsmouth far too many times ( ) I can tell you that manoeuvring there is harder than it looks, and the same seems to be true in Rotterdam.  You may be interested to know that many ships (mainly pax, aka passenger) vessels rarely use the stern thrusters but more often than not use the bow thrusters.  Most officers prefer to use stern thrusters for things like anchoring or berthing in very strong winds - quite possibly something they are instructed to do whilst they were at a nautical college.  Perhaps someone within the industry could back this up?

[Stuart2007]

Hi James,
Nice to see you again. I have really only sailed out on POBI (so long since on any other ship) and in the days of P&O being a major player in Pompey, the Portsmouth would lie just off the berth whilst POBI backed out, let Portsmouth. In a wind, that was bad enough, but then reverse out and avoid hitting that RN training ship.

It looks hard, yes- but I don't think the other end in Santcruzzi looks much fun either (Have you seen the underwater obstructions buoys at the berth?)

I can't see why they won't use the stern thrusters- although I won't argue the point- seems a waste of money installing and 'ferrying' around heavy equipment for little use.

I know a man who might just answer this...

Stu

[AlexKall]

What time did you get on it?

I would post my time, but... err.. ahem... I appear to have managed to forget. What a shame

I've seen 2 shi[s trying to manouver past each other in Portsmouth, before turning in a tight space. But this is a tiny berth.

Stu

I'm not a good skipper but I will give you my time anyways: 20:37

[Stuart2007]

I took 30 minutes 

It is a bit tricky. That walkway to the mooring point on the starboard quarter is a bit too close to the ship and its akward to get past.

Stu

[mporter]

I can't see why they won't use the stern thrusters- although I won't argue the point- seems a waste of money installing and 'ferrying' around heavy equipment for little use.

I know a man who might just answer this...

Stu

Most likely because the rudder is pretty good at kicking the stern around, it is the bow that is usually the problem in tight quarters.

Cheers,
Michael

[Stuart2007]

Yes, but the rudder only works if it has fluid moving over it. In this case at slow speed, it isn't by forward movement. Only by propellor thrust. Problem is: lots of thrust= forward movement, which may not be what you want.

Take the mission to take PoR out of the berth; If you wind the engines up to get thrust, you will go through the harbour wall.

Stu

[groennegaard]

Most passenger vessels do not have stern thursters as they have 2 propellers which are far more effective than a stern thruster. The propellers turn different ways and due to the difference in water pressure at the lower and top part of the propellers, you can make the stern go sideways by going forward on one propeller and aft on the other. As the efficiency of ruddes depend on the water moving past them, the rudder at the forward-going propeller is the most efficient.

In strong winds the bow use to be the weak end (companys tend to economize on bow thrusters - I guess they do not know the prices on sudden tug assistance...  ). I have only been on board one ship equiped with stern thrusters. It only had a single (but pitch) propeller and this is why it had the stern thrusters.

Regards
groennegaard

[Stuart2007]

Hi Groennegaard

So in the case of the Rotterdam P&O mission (assuming it was 100% accurate- which it never can be) you would put the bow thruster to port to move the bow out and then the port propellor ahead and the starboard propellor astern with the rudder hard to port.

So this would move the stern out and the ship will slide sideways?

I must pay more attention to the patterns in the wake when I'm next on a ship.

Stu

[Stuart2007]

Hi

As this thread is developing away from media I have moved it to:

http://www.shipsim.com/ShipSimForum/index.php/topic,1025.0.html

Regards
Stu