Retro Sixth Boro 34 a

It’s January 31 or -1 February.  since it’s a short month, it needs another day.   The temperatures where I’ve been have been colder than -1 centigrade.  So let’s do it . . . photos from a decade ago, February 2010.  See the crewman in the netting dangling over the side of tanker Blue Sapphire?  He appears to be touching up paint on the plimsoll marking.  I wonder why I didn’t add this to a “people on the boro” series,  which started in July 2007 with this.  Today, the tanker is northbound along the west coast of Malaysia, and sailing as Marmara Sea.  Oh well, stuff changes.

Here’s a fair amount of dense traffic:  Norwegian Sea is eastbound, Conrad S westbound, and an Odfjell tanker is tied up at IMTT.   Looking at my archives, I have a “dense traffic” series and a “congestion” series that probably should be collapsed into one series.  May I’ll do that on a snowy or a rainy day.  Dense Traffic goes back to February 2012 here, and Congestion series started in March 2011 here.  Norwegian Sea has been renamed Miss Rui and sails for Smith Maritime Ocean Towing and Salvage Company.  Conrad S is now Iris Paoay, leaving Davao in southern Philippines.

Cape Bird is getting lightered (or bunkered??) by Elk River and barge DS 32.

This was a congested scene as well;  note beyond Cape Bird  APL Sardonyx and Eagle Service with Energy 13502.  Eagle Service is now Genesis Eagle (which on the radio sounds like Genesis Sea Gull).  The 1995 APL Sardonyx is now just Sardonyx and is tied up in Taiwan.  Maybe at a scrap yard?  The 2003 Cape Bird is now Tornado and tied up in Lagos.

Crow is no more . . . having been turned into scrap like that loaded on the scow she’s pushing here.

Ever Dynamic is inbound under the original Bayonne Bridge, with Laura K assisting on the Bergen Point turn.

Gateway’s Navigator was a regular towing submarine sections between Rhode Island and Virginia. 

Here’s Navigator towing Sea Shuttle, which may or may not have something under the shelter on the barge.  Navigator is now Protector, out of New Bedford.

Arctic Sunrise was in the sixth boro for a Greenpeace “show the flag” event.  Since then, she spent time detained in the Russian Arctic . . . the Pechora Sea.  Later released, Dutch authorities took the detention to the World Court, and Russia was fined 5.4 million Euros over the detention.

All photos were taken by WVD back in February 2010.

Something Different 56

Thanks to Isaac Pennock, who took this photo on the hard in Muskegon MI.  The name Joel B and the port of registry New York is recognizable in the metal.

Does anyone remember Joel B in NY?  

She’s not large, 30- to 40′ and a beam of less than 15′, wide load sign notwithstanding.  Of course a 15′ load on a road trailer is wide.  The 1973 record of merchant ships show a tugboat by this name in 1973 up by North Arlington NJ, up by Lake Hopatcong.  Might this be it?  How long has she been in the Great Lakes?

All photos, Isaac.  Thanks.  

Random Tugs 325

Note the line boat off B. Franklin‘s starboard.  Also, faintly to her port and beyond the green buoy hull down is a Kirby tug, probably one of the Cape-class boats. 

Actually part of the same scene panning to the left–note the line boat on the extreme right side of the photo–it’s Joyce D. Brown with a crane barge off to do a salvage job.

Not long afterward, Caitlin Ann heads west past Treasure Coast on the blue-and-yellow cement carrier.

Brendan Turecamo and Margaret Moran bring a ship in.

Kirby Moran follows a ship in with a Reinauer barge right behind.

And again, a few minutes later, Paul Andrew follows the Reinauer unit and the ship westbound.

Resolute, back in the sixth boro, heads out to assist a USN vessel into Earle.

Genesis Victory passes Doris Moran alongside the Apex Oil barge,

Another day, l to r, it’s Barry Silverton, Saint Emilion, and the A87 barge again. Barry‘s sister vessel–Emery Zidell--was in the sixth boro recently, but I got just 

a very distant photo.

 I can’t put names on these vessels, but it’s the Wittich Brothers fleet, formerly (I think) known as Sea Wolf Marine.  And I see Sarah Ann in the extreme left. 

And let’s end on a puzzle . . .  William Brewster with a new paint job.  Last time I saw her, those dark green stripes were red. 

All photos, WVD.

 

 

Small Craft 29

All small craft working in January get my attention, but

this one attracted me even more because of its lines.  Is this a one-off or can someone identify the manufacturer?  An indicator of my severe case of cabin fever this year is that I’ve been looking at lots of small boat ads.  I’d really be happy to find a Grover  26 or 28. . . if anyone knows of one that’s available.  

Crewboats, like the one with the cyclopean light,  make their way among lots of other traffic in places like the KVK.

 

As you know, foreshortening compresses space in a frame . . . .

As close as this looks, it’s entirely safe.

Patricia is a small boat in this pond though

NYS Naval Militia Moose 440 patrols year around.

 

All photos, WVD, who’s serious about that Grover built search.

 

More Cargoes 25

Usually the cargo is invisible, but that’s not always true.  I hadn’t even noticed the cargo when I took this photo of Kimberly Turecamo leaning into the rust streaked Maersk container ship.

But above and then below, you too see the cargo.  No attempt even half-hearted has been made to cover that cargo, as was the case here. 

We’ve seen military vehicles before as cargo, here, here,  and here.

We’ve even seen aircraft as in here and here.

And given that military vehicles make up part of the load, I was not surprised when I saw it was Norfolk registered, i.e., US-flagged but not Jones Act . . . given that it was built in Korea and previously sailed under a British flag.

All photos, WVD.  Keep your eyes peeled because you never know what you’ll see.   By the way, Kinloss arrived yesterday and has already departed;  I don’t know if the military vehicles were discharged in our port.

I know this won’t display on FB blanks out enlargeable photos, so count on coming directly to the tugster wordpress site.

People on the Boro 28

First, thanks to Michele for helping me find a way to adjust photos here so that they enlarge when clicked.

The KVK is one of those places where mariners can be seen working:  no gate pass or special access required.  They might be preparing the gangway, all harnessed in

as a shipmate operates the controls.

Different ship, same job.

Maybe they’re out of the wind, ready but talking.

They might be on watch high above the city,

maybe wondering about those people on shore

 . . . cold weather and fishing or taking photos.  Often they never leave the ship here;  in fact, because of covid-19 many haven’t left the ship in months even though local mariners, essential workers, come and go.

  This has prompted actions of concern and the Neptune Declaration, which you can read here. Please click on the link and see who the 300 signatories are.

International mariners face one state of privation;  US citizen Jones Act mariners face another . . . working in winter cold and finding ingenious ways to get the wind off their face.

All photos, sentiments, WVD.  For more info on how covid-19 has affected shipping, click here.

Unfortunately, I can’t go back and adjust all the “non-enlarging photos” back to October. 

 

Orange 6

If you want to be visible,

you can’t do much better than to layer on safety orange.  Think of the color you wear while biking or just being out during hunting season.  Think of road workers or anyone who has to be out near traffic.  With good reason, the Dutch Rijkspolitie (highway patrol) once used it on their pursuit cars. 

It works quite well on MSC Athens, that horizontal stripe across the top of the breakwater compounded by one atop the bridge.  It’s so bright the paint must have a reflective additive.

Cell service returns once you’re in or near port.

 

 

And as MSC Athens headed for port, another MSC, with the same markings

MSC Heidi, headed out.

 

All photos, WVD.

Random Bulkers 1

It’s time to remedy my long having short-shrifted bulk carriers.  One came in Saturday morning called Angelina the Great N.  I missed it because I estimated timing wrong.  I hope someone got photos of the bulker with that incomparable name . . . Angelina the Great N.  What’s “N,” I wonder…, but what a great Name!!  Maybe you have a sense of what the “N” stands for?

But to bulkers . . .  often they’re exporting scrap, and Denak Voyager is a common visitor to Claremont.  Notice Rebecca Ann along the left margin of the frame?

Johanna C was in the same berth, Claremont, some time back.  Also, notice that Johanna C has cranes, swung out of the way, which Denak Voyager does not.

Ditto Nordic Barents, and again notice Rebecca Ann. In this case, Nordic Barents is using its cranes and orange peel grab buckets to transfer scrap from scows alongside.

Fu Quan Shan has cranes stowed and clamshell buckets at the ready.

Spar Indus is using its crane to lighter salt, as

is Kodiak Island over by the salt pile.  Because of the so-far mild winter, it’s been a while since a salt ship has discharged there.

Here’s a closer up view of Denak Voyager, seen above, its decks sans cranes, making it less versatile.

Nord Pacific is discharging salt via its cranes. 

And finally, Alerce N appears to have log racks as well as cranes and buckets. 

I’m starting to wonder if this is a bulkers post or a cranes post. Check out the cranes on

Curacao Pearl, a 1984 vessel previously known as Crane Arrow.   I’m not sure the name of this type of crane, but I’ve seen them before on her sister vessel, Atlantic Pearl here.

All photos, WVD, who knows that even more types of cranes exist, like these automated ones on Evans Spirit.  I’m not sure how they work.

Claremont

Claremont  . . . the place of ore and scrap.  Stand by. 

Let’s get oriented.  See the Statue midright slightly top in the map grab below?  Now follow the line representing the longer ferry route.  That is the Claremont Terminal Channel, a place you don’t go to unless you have to.  That ferry picks up on the south side of Port Liberté.  Here‘s a great montage of images in different directions from there.

See the bare earth and all the scows stacked up along the SW side of channel?

This is the domain of Sims Metal Claremont Jersey City. Find out about the shredder pulpit, zorba, and the monetary values of things related to Claremont here.  Sims is named for Albert Sims, of Sydney AU, who started the company over a century ago. To see the yard closer up, go to google earth and zoom in.

Quite often a bulk carrier is docked there, loading mostly steel and ferrous scrap in chunks created by the megashredder mentioned above along with zorba. 

One fact that’s interesting to me is from 150 years ago back to time immemorial, this was likely marsh grass leading into rich oyster beds.  In 1920 it was bulkheaded “by the Lehigh Valley railroad to unload ore-laden freighters from South America, the Claremont Terminal’s considerable dockside trackage was used to quickly deliver raw ore for use in the steel mills of Bethlehem Steel at Bethlehem, PA.”  During WW2, it “was repurposed for the loading of US Army troopships and transports following the war and working in conjunction with the Caven Point Army Terminal provided much of the material used by US forces in the early years of the Korean War.”  I’d love to know where in South America the ore came from.

On the other side of the channel is Caven Point, “operational from early 1900’s until the early 1970’s [as] a large US Army installation located on the tidal flats of Jersey City. Caven Point’s proximity to key rail networks and the ports of New York and New Jersey made it invaluable for the marshalling of troops, munitions and materials heading for front lines in Europe. During WWII, the facility was one of the major points of embarkation of US soldiers heading overseas, and was also one of the major East Coast POW processing points for captured German and Italian troops during the war. Following the cessation of hostilities, Caven Point was a key receiving point for homeward bound American servicemen, and again used its proximity to US rail lines to send tens of thousands of troops on their way home.”  Sources are here and here. Near the end of this link are photos of USN vessels at Caven Point.

This photo is taken from the innermost area of Claremont looking back out.  The USACE buildings at Caven Point are to the left, and Atlantic Veracruz is along the dock to the right.  Rebecca Ann and Sarah Ann are managing the scrap scows.  Shoreside here is not Sims but Clean Earth, Inc.

That’s Brooklyn in the distance.

All photos and reads, WVD.

Random Tankers 2

That more tankers and fuel barges arrive in the sixth boro in the colder months is just my hunch;  maybe someone reading this can supply numbers to prove or disprove this.  It would make sense, given that there’s the need for heating.  In any case, let’s look at some vessels in town in recent months.  By the way, here was the first post of this series.   One of these is arguably misclassified here;  see if you can determine which.

Afrodite was a frequent and controversial visitor here a few years back.

 

Note the person climbing the ladder from a Millers Launch launch.  Also, can you explain the T on the bow?

Overseas Mykonos, despite its name,

is a US-flagged vessel, assisted by Mary Turecamo. However, when launched in 2010, she was registered in Majuro.  I have to admit that I need a “big picture tutorial” on shifting ship registries, aka reflagging.

In the morning light as thousands of cars make their way (upper left) along the arteries called parkways and expressways, Grand Ace9, launched in 2008,  has been here before–never on this blog though, as Eagle Miri.  I’ve not seen Eagle tankers in the harbor in years . . . possibly some of the older ones have been scrapped.

 

Maya, like Afrodite, is a TEN tanker, “TEN” expands to Tsakos Energy Navigation. See the T on the stack? Maya is of a smaller class of TEN tankers, and has switched registry from Maltese to Marshall Islands.

Orange Ocean is a regular in the port, and the only Liberian tanker in this batch.

Seapike has been here before.  For full context of this vessel, check Michael Schmidt’s site here . . . for Seabass, Seacod, Seatrout, etc. . . you get this gist. Also, note a Millers  Launch launch, maybe Emily, along the port side.

The green stripes near the bow mark this as a BW Group vessel, one of many that call in the sixth boro.

One series has names like BW Panther, BW Puma, BW Bobcat . . . you get the idea.  The founder of the company was Sir Yue-Kong Pao, who started in the family shoe business.  Although you’ve likely never heard of him, he made Newsweek’s cover in 1976.  The company is currently run by the founder’s son-in-law Peter Woo, who was on Forbes cover a few years ago. 

Rounding this post out, shown in the breadth of the Upper Bay, it’s Aegean Star.

She’s the newest of vessels in this post, launched in 2019.

All photos and research, WVD.

And if you said that Orange Ocean was misplaced here, you’d be right, since the liquid she carries is edible . . . or potable.