Salt 7b

Here was part a of this series.  Twelve hours after arrival, Balder could already be 25,000 tons lighter, although I’m not sure at this writing at what hour of darkness the discharge began.

But in daylight as by night, the Cats labor to keep the salt piled for maximum space efficiency.  Since I’ve not done it, I can only imagine what a time lapse of the unloading process–in say 60 seconds–would look like as the great orange hull rises in the water as a mountain–with Cats scrambling laboriously– grows on shore.

Periodically the flow of salt stops along this nearly 300′ long arm, and

the traveling deckhouse,  covering the unloading machinery and keeping the process virtually dustless, trundles over a still loaded portion of the hold.   The fotos below come from the MacGregor site.

Notice the Empire State Building–almost 10 miles distant– in the foto below, just down and to the left from the starboard side lifeboat.

Here’s another shot showing Balder‘s traveling deckhouse.

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Salt goes off the portside while fuel enters to starboard from

Doubleskin 33 squired by –here–Quantico Creek.

All fotos–and narrative–by Will Van Dorp, who is solely responsible for any factual errors and who is grateful to Brian DeForest for permission to observe and take fotos of this process.  I’d also LOVE to accompany Balder for the six-week 6000-mile voyage to the Chilean desert for more seasonings to tame your wintry commute.

Returning to the foto above, notice the creamy colored hull intruding from the right . . . well, more on that tomorrow.

Postscript:  Balder might have loaded this salt in Patache, in northern Chile.  Click here for a CSL article on Balder’s South American bulk trades.