Going backwards in the marina I often steer on the engine rather than the rudder (though I keep the rudder aligned with the engine of course). Obviously that's in a tiny sailing boat with an external engine, but I thought large ships also often have a steerable front propeller to assist with steering and mooring. Although maybe these very large ships use tugboats for that.
My boat has an inboard diesel so no ability to direct the prop. It does have a bow thruster, but it's only really used at slow speed, usually right at the point of docking and undocking in tight spaces, once you get the boat moving in forward or reverse you don't need it.
I have no idea about container ship sized boats, though I'd imagine a bow thruster of steerable prop might not be practical at that scale.
