There is a lock near Great Bridge on ICW in Virginia. All pushing ahead. Unless its a long dredge tow, (with dredge pipe) and a tug with a short towline on the bow, aft is a pushing vessel.
U.S. has few locks here and there, mostly on inland waterway however in Europe many of the commercial berths at large ports are inside a lock system to avoid extreme tides. Antwerp for example.
The tugs in Europe do use the âon the lineâ system much more frequently then the U.S. even at ports without locks.
You wouldât get far in the ICW towing on a line.
You wouldnât get far running a long dredge tow and equipment underway without it. As I said, someone has to help steer it. Single tow, you are correct. We pushed. Worked for Norfolk Dredging for a bit running ICW Been there.
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Youâre right about that. Dredges are the exception with their biggest tug pulling the dredge and the pipes behind it and using their small push boats to keep them in the channel.
Here on the Mississippi River, it is very common on docking maneuvers to have one ASD Tractor on centerline aft with a short line (serving as a brake/steering force) and one other tug on the bow with a line in the chock at the break of the focâsle. For larger and or heavily loaded ships, a third tug will be positioned, usually with a line, at the chock just forward of the ships house.
Some of the tug companies on the River still do not have many ASD tractors, so they just position their tugs on either port or stbd sides of the ships, as pilots are not comfortable putting conventional tugs centerline aft.
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Spent most of my late career on the river. Absolutely correct sir.
Thank you for you detailed answer. "in the chock at the breakâ means on the shoulder
How do you handle vessel like Ultra Large Container Ship with large bow flare?
It sure works well in winding rivers with narrow bridges as well as the ICW.
I never use the command âpullâ. Too often it is confused with âfullâ.
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