Excessively Windy

“Excessive wind”  . . . i.e., a constant 20+ mph describes Wednesday’s weather quite well.  The following fotos all come thanks to Capt. Fred Kosnac, who was on one tug of three accompanying the Weeks crane barge to the right.   Farther up the dock, notice the blue/green hull of a container ship, MOL Destiny.

Two hours later, notice our perspective relative to MOL Destiny.  The tugs with the crane barge were asked to move to make room for passing traffic . . .  the black hulled container ship.  The next fotos all transpire in a three-minute period as docking tugs struggle to safely get MSC Nerissa to the dock on the opposite side of the channel.

Count the tugs wrestling the MSC vessel over.  There’s Joan Turecamo, Gramma Lee T Moran, and

Resolute.    The other two container vessels are Zim Luanda and Ever Respect.  And the Weeks 533, see her here lifting locomotives a few years back and an Airbus 320 –now in a Charlotte museum–before that.

These are the hidden dramas that routinely happen in the context of moving our goods into and out of the port.

By now . . . a mere 48 hours later, these behemoths are hundreds of miles from here and from each other, the docking tugs have finished at least a half dozen other docking assists, and the Weeks barge and tugs  . . . at work on other projects.    Again, thanks for these to Capt. Fred Kosnac.

Unrelated:  Does anyone know whether whether any wooden 64′ USCG tugs still exist?

Also unrelated:  I found the incident I recalled reading that involved M/V Cosette, mentioned a few days ago.  Here’s the article.   I still don’t know if she’s scrapped or sunk or still sailing.

Totally related foto from summer 2009, the orange Fred K II.