Trader

Although quite common for tugboats and other smaller craft, New York is a rare place of registry in large vessels today.  Horizon Trader belongs to the same aging Jones Act fleet as Producer, Navigator, Challenger, . . . Crusader now scrapped.

I’m way out of my depth in bringing up the Jones Act, a set of statutes regulating maritime commerce dating from 1920 sponsored by Senator Wesley Livsey Jones.  But here is a fact:  35 years old is the average fleet age of Horizon’s container vessels . . . a large if not the largest Jones Act carrier.  That compares with 12 years  . . . for the international container vessel fleet.  Source for these ages is here.

As an untrained observer of the industry, I can state that Horizon Trader looks all of her 40 years, and again . .  as a fervent but unconnected news consumer, I’ve heard/read nothing that blemishes their safety record.

And here’s the newest development . . . Horizon will cease their commerce through New York, substituting Philly instead.

Technically Trader is a Type C6-S-85a designed for Farrell Lines by George G. Sharp, a firm with a stellar list of vessels to its name.

Enjoy the 40-year-old details.   I’d love to hear from someone who’d been onboard.

She looks small beside Laura K. Moran.  All fotos by Will Van Dorp.