New Hulls, Lines, and Liveries

Flux.  “Everything changes and nothing remains still; and you cannot step twice into the same stream.”  Heraclitus said that, or maybe he did not, but I’ve attributed it to him before.

Click here for the 1966 Charles Burton and the 2010 Charles Burton.  Above and below, that is the one from 2010, but the missing “V” in the nick in the green band suggests a livery change soon.

Over on the KVK, I first thought I was seeing one specialized barge, but

a closer look shows that CMT is getting not just new tugs but also new barges, CMT Y Not 5 and 17.  I hear tell there are more new ones also.

The ship is not new:  Polar Colombia dates from 2017.

But with Polar Colombia and Polar Peru both calling in the sixth boro in the same week,

I read that as a new line or at least new Hamburg-Sud names on their North-South trade?  Polar Colombia has already departed the sixth boro, called and reloaded in Costa Rica, and is heading back north!

Zhong Gu Shan Dong appears to be a new direction.  The ship dates from 2007 and it’s small . . . only 3400 teu, but it is registered in China.

Maybe a Chinese-reading person can translate both the vessel name and the characters on the hull?

But some of the containers are interesting, with Zhong Gu Logistics (upper left corner of the green containers) being something I’ve not noticed before.

Even more interesting to me, nerd of nerds, is what’s on the brightest orange containers . . ..

Alibaba.com!!  I know they are huge, but do they have their own shipping containers now?  Here’s more on Jack Ma‘s  Alibaba Group, including the name origin story, which I’ll quote below.

All photos recently, WVD, who’s always seeking novelty.

Here’s that story:  “One day I was in San Francisco in a coffee shop, and I was thinking Alibaba is a good name. And then a waitress came, and I said do you know about Alibaba? And she said yes. I said what do you know about Alibaba, and she said ‘Open Sesame.’ And I said yes, this is the name! Then I went onto the street and found 30 people and asked them, ‘Do you know Alilbaba’? People from India, people from Germany, people from Tokyo and China… They all knew about Alibaba. Alibaba — open sesame. Alibaba — 40 thieves. Alibaba is not a thief. Alibaba is a kind, smart business person, and he helped the village. So…easy to spell, and global know. Alibaba opens sesame for small- to medium-sized companies. We also registered the name AliMama, in case someone wants to marry us…”  quoted from here.