Abstract: To support the autonomous navigation of cargo-carrying vessels with specific time and position requirements,research on high-precision trajectory tracking control is necessary. In response to the limited existing studies on cargo vessels and the insufficient consideration of actuator characteristics-where thrust and torque are often treated as directly controllable inputs,leading to limited practical feasibility-a control method combining a virtual vessel leader and an Integral Line-of-Sight（ ILOS） approach is proposed. This method uses a propeller speed prediction algorithm to synchronize the real vessel with the virtual vessel and employs speed feedback correction to compensate for disturbances. To improve tracking accuracy,the relative positions are utilized to determine the desired heading through the improved ILOS method,thereby reducing the problem to one of course keeping. Ultimately,vessel trajectory tracking is achieved. Simulation results show that the controlled vessel accomplishes trajectory tracking under disturbance,with a steady-state error of less than ± 0. 5 m,an error convergence time of less than 50 s,an 86% reduction in rudder jitter,and 71% reduction in propeller speed jitter. The proposed control method is straight forward,demonstrating high performance,can serve as a valuable reference for engineering applications.