It’s mid afternoon, and what’s this? In past years, I’ve posted photos discharging coal in the harbor, loading scrap away from the dock, and lightering salt.
Midmorning earlier I’d seen Frances slinging a scow out of Duraport, but I had no clue
where she was headed.
Until some hours later. Frances here delivers an empty scow to starboard of SBI Phoebe.
And here’s a split second after the top photo. Any guesses on cargo and its provenance?
Frances stays busy, delivering an empty and taking a load to Duraport. Must be lightering.
Thanks to Tony A who was passing Duraport in the wee hours, 0123 to be precise, now we know SBI Phoebe was being lightened so that it could complete discharging here.
So are your guesses ready as to cargo and origin?
It’s sand from Egypt, a raw material they have lots of. But what makes Egyptian sand worthy of being transported across the sea and ocean? Salt content or lack of it?
Many thanks to Capt. Tony for his night photos. All others by Will Van Dorp.
5 comments
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December 9, 2017 at 12:10 pm
mageb
Glass or road sand…but we have our own.
December 9, 2017 at 5:48 pm
Tony acabono
The reason ships have to lighter is because Duraport has a draft restriction of 26 feet. So appropriate tonnage must be removed to have appropriate draft for the dock.
December 11, 2017 at 10:44 am
John
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/29/the-world-is-running-out-of-sand
December 11, 2017 at 10:50 am
tugster
Thx, John. I recall reading this article. Believe it or not, Dubai imports sand from Australia for their tallest construction projects!!
December 15, 2017 at 12:27 pm
ws
The low transportation costs, and economies of scale of this Egyptian Sand shipment, can not be overlooked..
-During the 2014 polar vortex coal was shipped from Russia to Public Service New Hampshire..
See JL Radtke’s charts:
Click to access EPPaper080229E.pdf