ITB 2

Let us go then, you and I,
With the dock cranes spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table, and ITB blocked in the graving dock….

My apologies to T. S. Eliot, but let’s continue our anatomical study of this vessel. Refresh your memory of the first post here. While examining the components, guess what cargo might be in its future.

The view below shows more of the inboard port pontoon. Notice the tapering groove.

 

That groove corresponds to this tapered “stern” of the barge. This stern is called a tongue. Tongue in groove. In cheek?

 

Here’s a closer up of the starboard arm on the tug, which locks into a groove on the barge. This arm and its mate are just visible at the top edge of the first foto above.

 

On stern of barge, notice the top of the tongue and the slots into which the arms fit and lock. The yellow railed gangway belongs shoreside and provides access to the barge only in drydock.

Look along the length of the vessel now toward the twin stacks 700 feet back.

 

Of course, there needs to be a gratuitous bulbous bow shot, or as coyote would say, la proue à bulbe.

 

So, cargo . . . would you believe post-oil this ITB enters the trans-Atlantic grain trade. After a thorough cleaning of the holds, that it’ll be.

See this link for aerial foto of Philadelphia underway. Also here of sister vessels.

Totally unrelated . . . beaver dams are back in the Bronx. See Goingcoastal here. Use my search window to find what I’ve said about beaver in the past 310 posts.

Photos, WVD.