You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2020.
Clifford Maersk is making her final approach into port of NYNJ, arriving here from King Abdul Aziz Seaport in Damman, KSA. So what? Check out the non-containerized cargo near the front center of the load.
See it?
As the container ship approached, I managed to get some closer up photos. I have my theory, but I’ll leave it to you to state yours in the comments
Do you see the “squiggle” on the camouflage just right of the red panel, above the rightmost blue container marked “45”? I call that shape “ithnayn,” Arabic for the number two.
Again, I’m not putting into words what I see here, but I will say it’s poorly wrapped, or formerly wrapped.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen intriguing cargoes. Remember these Oshkosh trucks with Hebrew writing on them? And then there have been other military hardware . . . military trucks and other vehicles atop the boxes previously here, here, here, and here. Once I even spotted a cigarette boat way up there.
All photos, WVD. After your guesses, I’ll show my hand. And since I’m not trick or treating or dancing tonight, here’s your second post for today.
It’s the end of another month, and maybe because everything’s been so bleak of late, let’s just admire and enjoy the complexity of the sixth boro.
Diverse people work here on diverse missions.
Places like NY Harbor School and M.A. S. T. as well as SUNY Maritime College and King’s Point MMA are here.
On foggy days a narrow navigation channel gives the illusion of being as expansive as the ocean.
Keeping it as ideal a place as possible is the mission of many people and much infrastructure, seen and unseen.
Professionals pass through the sixth boro without ever technically entering the space, both a boon and a bane to all involved,
and their safe passage is ensured by the named and the nameless.
Work and recreation can happen in the same space because of
professionalism. If you have a lot of time, you can binge watch these videos by a pro who works the sixth boro and beyond. Now, when I hear his voice on VHF, it’s familiar. There are books as well.
The universal language of gesture is powerdful.
The sixth boro has at least as much specialized equipment as the other five boros combined; another way to put it, the specialized equipment of the sixth boro enable the other boros to perform.
And if the land boros have spirit, don’t imagine the sixth boro lacks anything.
Photos and sentiments, WVD.
This is “restricted visibility,” and as you can imagine, lots of fog horn blasts were sounded. An alternative explanation is that APL Dublin just folds herself into another dimension. The ship was launched in 2012.
Believe it or not, the vessel below is also APL Dublin, photo taken about 10 minutes earlier in a less foggy area of the sixth boro.
On a much clearer day, Erato exchanges containers in Brooklyn’s container port. As of this writing, Erato is making for Haiti.
Algoma Integrity discharges aggregates in Brooklyn. She began life in 2009 as Gypsum Integrity. Gypsum vessels used to frequent the North River earlier THIS century.
CPO Hamburg enters the port of NYNJ. A 2009 vessel, she was previously called Seattle Express. The CPO and Conti vessels are part of the Offen Group.
I expected Sealand Illinois to be long and sleek and Maersk blue, as she appears in older photos. She dates from 2000.
And finally, ONE Marvel is right up there in the constellation of great names, but
when she last arrived inbound, the fog dimmed even her magenta skin.
Outbound, let’s have a look at this ULCV,
YM Width, a Taiwan-built box ship from 2016. She’s one of 26 W-class vessels operated by Yang Ming. Also in the boro recently were YM Wellhead, YM Wind, and YM Warranty, and another W-class vessels you might recall is YM World.
All photos, WVD.
Long Island, eastbound, gets overtaken by a small fishing boat.
B. Franklin, light, heads to the Reinauer yard.
Doris Moran, light, heads east.
Ellen McAllister assists a Maersk ship through the channels to her berth.
Helen Laraway heads east to pick up a scow.
HMS Justice pushes HMS 2605 through the KVK.
Charles A. and Matthew Tibbetts follow a ship so that they can assist as needed when called upon.
Ava and Kimberly head out to different assignments.
Brendan Turecamo provides port assist.
Mister Jim follows Seeley.
Gulf Coast has been a Dann Marine vessel since it was launched way back in 1982.
All photos, WVD.
It’s the season.
I wonder if the Kimberly crew has marked other holidays and I missed it. I did catch the red-clad guy almost a year ago.
Mary H and her barge Patriot is likely headed for Newtown Creek. The 1981 build, such a clean looking tug, has been working in the sixth boro for 33 years.
We’ve had a spate of foggy days. Beyond Franklin here, notice the bright lights at Bayonne Shipyard where work proceeds on Mendonca even at night.
The mechanical dredge J. P. Boisseau here gets moved to a new worksite by Sarah Ann, with Brian Nicholas standing by.
A Maersk ship came in recently with a gaggle of assist boats: l to r, Ava, Ellen, and Matthew. Not visible is Charles D. McAllister, and the visible Thomas J. Brown is not assisting.Yes, Matthew Tibbetts is doing a fair amount of ship assist work these days, and why not.
Here are two more photos of Matthew Tibbetts doing ship assist.
Helen Laraway passed through with a load of scrap.
Poling & Cutler’s Crystal and Evelyn pass in opposite directions.
HMS Justice has eluded my eyes for quite a while, but here she is, with the Centerline Logistics feline on the superstructure.
All photos, WVD.
Behold an entire fleet, and the current boats of a family business operating boats in New York since 1927.
The Brown family boats are distinguished by their color and meticulous condition.
Maybe you can’t tell by their condition, but one of these boats dates from 2015, one from 2002, and one from 1962. Styling may give it away, if you don’t just already know.
With all this foggy weather fading out the background, the green livery and polychromatic trim really pops out.
Off to work. In case you don’t know, Thomas is from 1962, and James . . . from 2015.
All photos, WVD.
Justin Zizes gets credit for the striking photo below. He took it the other night from another vessel off Lower Manhattan. That’s Jersey City forming a wall in front of the sunset sky.
Erieborg is part of the Wagenborg family-owned fleet of 180+ small general cargo vessels. They’re a common sight on the Great Lakes. So on a whim, I checked where Erieborg had begun and where its voyage would take it. Astonishingly, it’s headed from Albany to Hamilton Ontario.
The road distance between Albany (right) and Hamilton is no more than 350 miles. By the Erie and Oswego Canals and Lake Ontario, it would be about the same. Of course, the small cargo ship, exotic as it would look transiting the Erie Canal, is too large in every dimension. The Erie Canal can handle vessels up to 300′ long, 43.5′ wide, 12′ draft, and 21′ air draft. Any inklings on the dimensions of Erieborg above?
Erieborg is 452′ x 52.4′ beam, and draws 26.1 . . . too long, wide, deep, and certainly high. So what options does Erieborg have for transporting its cargo what would be 350 miles? Pick a route and number for the distance and voyage time?
Here’s the route . . . around Nova Scotia and far north between the Gaspe peninsula and Anticosti Island.
I come up with 1955 nautical miles and a seven or eight day voyage at 10 kts and allowing for transit time in the Saint Lawrence Seaway, burning fuel at the rate of . . . 400 or so gallons an hour (my guess).
Thanks to Justin for use of his photo. I wish I knew what the cargo was.
I’d seen Ocean Tower on AIS earlier and watched it pass along with its tow, but I was focused on something else, so this was my best shot. I had caught its reddish color, the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock color.
Phil Little caught this photo from his Weehawken cliff. I believe the tow had gone up the North River to wait for a favorable time through Hell Gate on the other side of the island.
Later in the day I got a query from Lew. This was the closest he could get from his vantage point, and he wondered what that gargantuan crane was.
I concluded I should contact my friend Nelson Brace, whose photos of Cape Cod Canal transits I always found spectacular. Nelson told me he works with a group called ‘Photogs Я Us’ . They even have a FB page that’s a “must-see” if you do FB.
And here’s the close-up of the dredge from ‘Photogs Я Us’ … It’s the dredge New York. I’m not sure where she has more recently been working, but she’s currently heading for Boston, where the harbor channel deepening process is on.
Her bucket can dig down to 83′ down and take up to 25 cubic yds of material.
Many thanks to the fine photographers of ‘Photogs Я Us’ for these closeups.
Also to Phil and Lew for contacting me.
I recall when GLDD’s New York was operating in the sixth boro, deepening the channels here and here. Also, she was passively involved in an incident some of you may recall as well. Below are more photos I took of dredge New York working just NW of the Staten Island Ferry terminal in fall 2010.
Captain D is the assist boat. These photos show the role of the derrick over the Liebherr 996.
Here’s a crowded dredge zone.
Here’s the USACE on the project in Boston.
These foggy days offer an enhancement to a photographer with a telephoto; the background nearly disappears, causing the subject to pop out. In this case, it’s two tugboats of different sizes.
Linda L. Miller length is just a bit over half Cape Henry‘s beam.
Linda L. Miller (ex-Frog Belly, a name for the ages) is 25.3′ x 14; Cape Henry is 109’x 36′.
Each has its role.
All photos, WVD, who recalls a lecture I once heard called “Is this a tugboat?” given the late great Don Sutherland. It made the same point as these photos.
Another post showing scale and involving W. O. Decker I did here.
Tony Acabono wrote me that he was confused, although maybe he was not.
As this approached and passed by, I was briefly confounded.
The shape reminded me immediately of a tidal power installation in the East River, which I’d written about here 12 years ago.
The three nodes of the structure on the barge are marked A, B, and . . . as you see . . . C.
I got out ahead of it. The main tug here is Harry McNeal, and alongside is Miss Julia. I’m not sure who owns Miss Julia.
A tidal strait, which the East River technically is, with tides in first one and then another direction, will spin these turbines and generate electricity. Winds may be variable and intermittent, but the tides never cease.
Verdant Power is the clue will get you much more info.
The three turbines/blades are fitted into a triangular structure, a TriFrame. It will be submerged in the East River as part of RITE, Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy project, as yet a pre-commercial operation. Materials and design are being tested.
And finally, from the Tideland Institute, Julia, Harry, and the turbines eastbound, like some low-flying albino birds, in the Buttermilk.
Read gCaptain’s take here.
And how would you imagine the Tri-Frame got lowered to the bottom?
Columbia specializes in lowering and raising.
This post reminds me of Whatzit 36 . . . from three and a half years ago.
Thanks to Tony, Tideland, and AC. Photos not credited to others by WVD, who’s repeatedly astonished by the sixth boro surprises and complexity.
tugster: a waterblog 
Recent Comments