If it is bucking the currents and wind, you can be pretty certain it will be slowed down. You can be doubly sure if that barge is low in the water. Most the barge will be underwater and cause considerable drag . It will eat you up. On Their Maneuverability T his is important to bear in mind.
Large ships require room to stop.
They also need space to get around any obstacles in the water, even assuming that they can spot something as small as a kayak or two. Most of it was quite familiar except for one item that opened my eyes wide. It was a reproduction of an example of the maneuvering diagram that every large ship must post on its bridge to let the helmsman know how much room he needs to stop the ship and how much to turn in each direction. The diagram covered situations when fully loaded and when empty except for ballast. The ship in the example was a 550 foot long cargo ship.