Meanwhile . . . 8000 Miles Away 2

. . . or I could say 12480 kms away.    Here was the previous one in this series.  Remember the port?

Well, in this port recently was this tug named Merlot and the green vessel . . . a large canoe?  And yes, check here for tugs named chardonnay, shiraz,  and pinotage.  Nothing here yet named Ripple or Boone’s Farm . . .  Here’s what Colin wrote about the green vessel:

“That ship ULSTEIN CLEAR is fresh as a daisy, built at ZHEJIANG SHIPBUILDING in China and  delivered 31  MAY 2012.   They also build them in BRAZIL where PETROBRAS ordered six and two have been built there and four will be complete during 2013.  I have read that PETROBRAS have ordered quite a few drilling rigs for their offshore operations.   On one of the ULSTEIN ships they have a crane mounted for wind farm operations.  It lifts 5000 tons so very effectively.  It will be used between England and Ireland.”

Some might consider this design so unusual as to be ugly, but I see this as an extrapolation from a canoe bow . .  or the prow of a Viking ship.

More info about this hull and its advantages for working in heavy sea–reduced motion and fuel efficiency– can be found here.   Great videos and animations.  Note the location of the exhausts.  If you didn’t identify them, they

are the diagonals more visible here.

I don’t believe a vessel with this sort of bow has visited the sixth boro . . .

yet.

All fotos by colin Syndercombe, to whom I am grateful.