No, it's not "clever." It's ridiculously uninformed. Tugboats are far less efficient than the ship running under its own power to start with. Add to that you no

No, it's not "clever." It's ridiculously uninformed. Tugboats are far less efficient than the ship running under its own power to start with. Add to that you now have a fleet of tugboats and their associated crews (robotic tugboats are nice in concept; not so great as a reality in 2022) sitting idle/travelling to meet a ship/recharging/etc. And more vehicles that require ongoing maintenance whether or not they're in use. A clever idea would be supported by data that shows how it can be effective. This is just an off the cuff suggestion by someone who's thought about the problem for 30 seconds.