Maiden voyage Cosco Shipping Denali arrives to the Port of Felixstowe laden from Singapore 190718

Cosco Shipping Denali built in June 2018 makes her European debut by making the Port of Felixstowe her first European port. At 366 metres in length and 51.2 metres in breadth she can hold just over 14,500teu. She began her voyage in China before going to Singapore and then through the Suez Canal northbound to Felixstowe.
One of Harwich Haven pilots boards the Denali at the Sunk Pilot Station which is around 12 miles out in the North Sea from Felixstowe.
Once onboard the pilot radios Harwich VTS to say they were inbound 13.9 metre draught from Singapore, planned port side to Felixstowe Berth 9. VTS replies with the wind on the Landguard, height of tide and any conflicting traffic. After a few moments the pilot requests three tugs for berthing. Two outside, first made fast centre lead aft before the Platter, second starboard quarter then make fast on the main deck but on the quarter and the third inside the harbour to make fast starboard shoulder for a port swing off the berth.
Svitzer Kent heads out to be the first tug and makes fast centre lead aft. Shortly after Kent heading out, Svitzer Shotley leaves the tug pontoon to be the quarter tug. The skipper on the Shotley radios the pilot to say they can make fast whenever the crew are ready as the panama lead was right above the tug marker. Finally Svitzer Deben slowly heads to the entrance of the harbour to wait for the Cosco Shipping Denali to round the Beach End before making their approach to make fast on the starboard shoulder.
Safely inside the harbour, the pilot uses the Kent as a brake to slow the ship down ready for the swing. To slow down a bit more the pilo runs the main engine astern.
The pilot begins to position the tugs for a port swing so the Kent moves out onto the starboard side, Shotley moves out on the starboard quarter to start taking the stern around. Deben pushes up on the starboard shoulder to take the bow around.
Almost swung around the Shotley comes in to push her alongside Felixstowe Berth 9. Kent helps straighten her for a parallel berthing onto the fenders.
Final tie 6 and 2 with springs first fore and aft then offshore lines.

[@OCEANCRAFTSMotionGallery]

Great footage👍👍👍

[@cats0182]

I continue to wonder whether commerce has the infrastructure to handle these mega carriers. Does shipping need larger, more powerful tugs for maneuvering? Are the port facilities able to load and unload these ships efficiently? Just wondering.

[@grondhero]

From my limited knowledge, I can answer the following, sorta:
For the past few years, shipping had been unprofitable for most of the top 10-20 shipping companies, but a large part of that is because they're undercutting themselves and others in order to get the cargo contracts.
I don't know if they need more powerful tugs, but I've seen them use up to four at a time. Now, the tugboat owners would say whether they need more powerful ones or not, but then if you get a new tug that does the work of two, you've just put one crew out of work, which sucks, but might be inevitable. (But would a newer, more powerful tug be worth the cost?)
I've read that loading and unloading can take up to two days, depending on the number of TEU. What I've no knowledge on is if there are normally ships waiting to load/unload because of this. The modern port facilities do seem efficient as far as what they're required to do and how they do it.

[@grondhero]

I did find this in a search: apparently, in Los Angeles, with union workers it will take twice as long as it used to (go figure):
www.quora.com/How-long-does-it-take-to-unload-a-cargo-ship-at-Los-Angeles

[@manolo6894]

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