Here was Random . . . August 2010.
Identify this?
And here, pushing barge John Blanche?
An unidentified sloop trails a self-assured looking Susan E. Witte.
Lots of coordination gets Mangarella into Bayonne GMD, with Amy C, Ellen, and Resolute; John P. Brown escorts the door.
Norasia Alya makes its way into Global with help from Resolute and Ellen.
Stolt Bobcat (ex-Golden Legend) heads for sea as
crew snap some fotos of the receding Manhattan skyline, wondering what they didn’t see and who they didn’t meet.
Miriam Moran, indefatigeable (and clearly “tireless”), sheet over the bow, travels to a paid asignation. Ventura sails northeast between Robbins Reef and the Lady.
Your caption here for the foto below: ________
Maersk Barry anchors in smooth waters off the construction site that is the Battery. Click here to see Barry in a turbulent Bay of Biscay.
Stena President transfers fluids at the dock in Bayonne.
Here’s more of that first shot: Orange Blossom, transporting my favorite drink. For another juice carrier post, click here.
Kraken?
Finally, about foto #2 above, it’s a first sign perhaps of the Kirby purchase of K-Sea; tug is push boat Irene Frazier built by Kirby. Irene will be replacing K-Sea’s Caspian Sea pushing John Blanche. Many thanks to silverbk for the heads up. Also thanks to John Watson for fotos of Mangarella and Norasia Alya . .. and their associate escorts.
All other fotos by Will Van Dorp.
In case you’re wondering, I hope to puzzle more through the ghost ships soon.
tugster: a waterblog 
13 comments
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August 21, 2011 at 6:47 pm
Tom
Wow, that Kirby/K-Sea combination is a monster in terms of fleet size and geographic reach apart from whatever else.
August 21, 2011 at 7:38 pm
JED
MIRIAM MORAN had a date with a cruise ship. White sheet keeps black rubber from staining white ship.
August 21, 2011 at 7:46 pm
Tony A
Will, just to clarify. The Irene Frazier was originally built or owned by Kirby. It was most recently run and owned by J&K Marine in Louisiana. She is now owned and run by American Petroleum and Transport. The same company that runs the Scotty Sky, Patrick Sky, and Capt Log. American specializes in small loads of petroleum products. The John Blanche is a new construction double hull barge. She holds 10,000 barrels of clean oil. Every time she moves a load she keeps 42 tractor trailers off our roads.
August 21, 2011 at 7:55 pm
tugster
tony– thanks for the clarification re: irene and kirby . . . i was blurring some facts there. special thanks for the last sentence here . . . . no offense towards operators of tractor trailers, but keeping 42 of them at a time off the already congested highways and bridges of this area is a blessing, a service that deserves to be told far and wide . . . .
August 22, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Harold E. Tartell
If you want to see how large of a fleet that Kirby possesses go to http://www.kirbycorp.com/2_inland/bulletin.cfm click on boat documents, then click view Kirby Inland Boat Information. The same with barge documents. Add the K-Sea conglomerate of vessels http://www.k-sea.com/main.php?_content=vessels Open pdf’s for tug lists and barge lists. One HELLUVA bunch of vessels !
August 29, 2011 at 9:23 am
Tom
You said it Harold! Talk about consolidation! I’ve never had to click “next page” so many times on any tow companies fleet page before!
August 29, 2011 at 9:34 am
Tony A
FYI The Irene Frazier will be changing names to “Diane B” In fact if you look up her document the change is already official. I guess they are waiting on the crew to actually paint the new name and replace the wooden name boards. I suppose the AIS transponder will also have to be reprogrammed.
September 1, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Steve Weinberg
The drill barge “Kraken” moves back and forth on its anchor lines, vs. standing on spuds like other drill barges (eg, Great Lake’s “Apache”). I suppose with all those anchor lines coming off of her, “Kraken” is a pretty logical name.
September 1, 2011 at 4:01 pm
tugster
steve– thanks for that info. now i DO like the name kraken even more.
December 13, 2011 at 8:46 am
American Petroleum
The Diane B. and John Blanche are responsible for supplying much of Westchester County NY, with #2 oil, biodiesel and Ultra Low Sulphur diesel. She runs continuously to Castle Oil in Tarrytown NY, Castle Oil in the Bronx, Schildwachter Fuel in the Bronx and Sprague Energy in Mount Vernon. In the case of Tarrytown, she is literally keeping trucks off the road. Prior to her launching, Castle North received all of it’s wholesale fuel via trucks. Now since the John Blanche, one barge can carry 10,000 bbls or 420,000 gallons enough fuel to fill 42 tractor trailers, and operate the terminal for a week. This makes the heating oil cheaper for the end customer.
Dredging regulations and regulations about fixing docks are endangering her operations. Castle North has filled in with silt over the years so now the barge can only land at high water. Eventually she won’t be able to land at all.
December 13, 2011 at 9:01 am
tugster
kudos to diane b and john blanche for reducing truck traffic. who were/are diane b and john blanche, namesakes?
December 13, 2011 at 9:29 am
American Petroleum
John Blanche is the owner’s father in law, Diane B is the owner’s wife. The former name Irene Frazier was the former owner’s mother.
December 13, 2011 at 9:43 am
tugster
thank you.