Pumping out up to a staggering 28,000 horsepower of force each, cruise
ship azimuth (omnidirectional) thrusters are about as environmentally
friendly as a lawnmower would be to your leg if you ran yourself over, and
have the very real potential to annihilate any ecology and environment
that they come anywhere near. This not only extends to marine life and
habitat, but to physical structures such as seaway walls. Nowhere are
they more devastating than in shallow, tricky estuarine and rivermouth
locations where tonnes of silt and mud are often blasted into the water
over and over again from the high powered bursts used in docking
manoeuvres - but not according to ASF, the consortium continues to
claim that ‘no tug boats’ will be required and that they are creating some
kind of peculiar ‘eco marine park’ at the location // Photo Alureiter
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