tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830234788257848988.post5722183288208875323..comments2023-08-08T09:52:41.549-04:00Comments on Deep Water Writing: From me at sea: Recapping the latest eventsDeep Water Sailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14606788574805657758noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830234788257848988.post-40150916122394411072009-04-28T01:53:00.000-04:002009-04-28T01:53:00.000-04:00VTS guy, the answer to your question has to do wit...VTS guy, the answer to your question has to do with two things, traffic density and natural forces. A ship should always be prepared to heave to and spend a little time waiting for things to clear out before safely proceeding into port or the channel but if a delay is unexpected by the bridge team and your vessel is subject to highwinds, seas or excessive current than maintaining a position becomes challenging. If there is alot of traffic nearby than it becomes even more dangerous in a confined area to kill time. I'm sure that as a VTS operator you take these factors into account when you're holding up ships approaching your port but in some parts of the world they seem to put you in peril on purpose. <br /><br />Approaching the Suez canal is a good example. As ships queue up for their spot in the canal Port Control has a habit of manhandling vessels into their position with little regard to where other ships might be stationed. It gets pretty hectic with so many large vessels trying to squeeze into the same channel at the same time. <br /><br />Another spot which I've found to be even more trying is when approaching the Red Sea port of Jeddah. Port Control likes to get you right ontop of the pilot boarding station which is about one mile inside a barrier reef (where the <br />bottom slopes from 2000 ft. to 15 ft.) and then tells you to wait around <br />just outside the inner reef because the pilot won't be there for another hour.<br /><br />Those are both extreme examples where on occasion VTS seems to do more harm than good but normally it isn't a big deal if you let us know ahead of time. If not than we may have allready called all hands for the tugs and now we've got the entire deck gang out on deck wishing they were still asleep. <br /><br />I'm curious what you would say are the most common causes of delays in your port? Congestion, pilot/tug availability?Deep Water Sailorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14606788574805657758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6830234788257848988.post-7072784904427097022009-04-24T03:48:00.000-04:002009-04-24T03:48:00.000-04:00Question from a VTS guy here in the US
Somtimes w...Question from a VTS guy here in the US<br /><br />Somtimes when we ask a ship or unit to wait 30 minutes for another vessel to clear it is not a problem, and others it is a big issue. In general, how are those 30-45 mintue waits like you experinced in the UK viewed by the shipping community or is it more isolated to some ships/flags?<br /> I can promise you we don't do it for the heck of it. ThanksAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com