Thanks Igor
This way of towing is like 21 st century with 19th century means, totally backwards and outdated. I remember discussed it often with pilots in Hamburg and they all said the tug captains are very much against to change to the short towing. sounds to like no able to adapt to modern times.

Because of such tug assistance its happened as belowe fm vesseltracker.com:
QTE
The "National Glory" allided with the Kiel Canal locks in Brunsbuettel on Mar 3, 2012, at 3.55 Uhr a.m. The captain had requested tug assistance, but the cable of the tug snapped, causing the ship to run into the wall of the lock, damaging the concrete. The hull of the "National Glory“ was dented and breached.
UNQTE

Interesting comments [ and of course a good photo ]

Hi Ted, all I meant by the tug cannot act as a brake when made fast fed of the bridge is in this position the tug master will be wary of falling in under the ships counter iff asked to lay back while the tug is laying flat alongside. The tug will have some braking effect but also with some force app,Jed to turn the ship too, if you get my drift. A bulk carriernor tanker will be better for the tug but a modern box ship might be a problem for the tug to lay back and act as a brake whilst laying flat alongside.
If the tug is clear of the transom as in the photo the tug is lesser likely to bend rails or squash the funnel etc. I tried to use fewer words but I hope you get the drift of what I was trying to say.
All the best Ted
Rgds craif

You say it by yourself Craig,,, the short quarter can pull and push right away,, a long line like this not,, and that is here the topic,,not the Voith,,that this situation can go in a split second out of hand we can read often enough in news when in a port a tug capsized again, usually one who pulled a long line.

Craig
can you explain me where/when a tug on the quarter area can not brake too ? the only disadvantage a short tight line has when a ship goes into locks,,in any other situation it is by far superior over a long towing line. Already when a tug has to pull from hard stb to go back to hard port is on the quarter and also the shoulder fwd withhin seconds,,with a long line it takes a minute,,,when everything can already be too late.

I don't see too much danger here, using indirect towing to take the ships stern to stbd. I don't see how a shorter towline would be of use because the tug would be working close in around the ships quarter, only other possibility would be for the tug to work under the bridge in push/pull mode, but then the pilot loses the advantage of using the tug as a brake.

Daniel
The issue is not about what voith can and what not,, you say it by yuorself, in a matter of seconds,, most peoples which capsized would have been lucky if they would have had seconds. And I repeat,,the issue here was not the tug etc,, the issue was the way they use or not use those long tow lines still today in european ports, the only ones where that is still done. That closer you come to the dock the more uselss the tug becomes. I had it oftenb enough you were with off-land wind 15 m away from the berth an the tugs could not pull you further in, next one knew you drifted off from the dock again,, with a tug on the qurter and a short line, no problems at all.
So,, it is not about voith,, it is about the way it is towed. :-))

Hello Captain,
In the photo and in a matter of seconds, the master of the tractor could use the full power of her two diesels, steering to port and put his boat on an even keel. But as I said, just read what the peoples at Voith have to say about direct and indirect steering manoeuvers.

Daniel, you missing the point :-))
I am now 28 years Master, and I saw this only twice and both times they were lucky that they did not capesize, both time it was with long lines , so I really believe that this is not standard procedure !!! :-))
Or are you really suggesting this is normal ?
The real issue/topic here is not the danger of capesizing but the reason why it looks like it is imminent to happen and that I attribute to the long lines , naturally, tight to ship with short lines this will and can not happen.

Wait a minute now, this is a Voith Water Tractor. Therefore no danger of capsizing...I was joking about those closed doors! Propellers forward, towline aft provide for a tremendous righting moment. I suggest that both of you read the Voith publicity...

Bob,yes,on the comparisation of regular tug and voith- shneider,but the situation would not be there if the tug would be secured on the side. Most probably this situation happened because the tug received order to pull as quick as possible to the other side, with a tightly secured tug a matter of seconds, secured like this a minute or more and putting all peoples on the tug in danger and the sailors on top of the aft deck to if the towing line breakes. Look all around,when tugs capesize during maneuvering a ship alongside, 95% because of "pulled-over" from their own TOO LONG towing lines.

Although this is not a good situation for the tug to get itself into, as a Voith-Shneider tractor tug and the position of the towing hook, the danger of girting and capsizing is much less than it would have been if BUGSIER 21 had been a conventional (old-fashioned) tug with a normal propeller or propellers. So the situation is not as bad as it looks.

Situations like that happen only when 19th century towing is still used instead of secure the tugs on the shoulders fwd and quarters aft with short lines. Only in Europe this totally outdated way of towing is still in use. Even in W-Africa they long time ago abandonded that kind of unprofessional way of bringing ships alongside.

Let us hope that the doors to the crew quarters are closed!