. . . and the 40%, which I’ll explain at the end of this post.
A half dozen of these vessels float the oceans, the previous ones I’ve covered in the sixth boro being 24, 20, and 10. In order, these vessels appear to be heading for somewhere in West Africa, renamed Hua Jing 001, and scrapped in India since 2017. Newer versions, or at least higher numbers 34 and 35 are in order, in Mombasa and heading for the Singapore Strait. This makes me wonder how many of these trips can these custom-modified vessels make. Zhen Hua 29 dates from 1987, although that gleaming orange recently applied might suggest otherwise.
Preparing to assist with the turn at Bergen Point, perhaps, tug James D Moran rotates 180 degrees to place the winch toward the 29.
With a Hong Kong registry, I’m wondering the nationality of the seafarers.
Messenger line gets sent down, and
heavy line soon goes up.
I predict about two weeks before the 29 leaves town light. On a separate note, might ZPMC soon have competition for these cranes?
All photos in the sixth boro yesterday, WVD, who will be here just another week, before heading back for mermaid and cetacean research on the freshwater seas. It is exciting to learn of Rangifer tarandus along the Alpena/Amberly ridge at 60 to 160 feet down. More sixth boro photos for the next few days, however. It’s great to be back.
About the 40 and 60% . . . . three of the five cranes were offloaded in Houston. I’m impressed by the crew/vessel ability to lighten the load by three of five cranes and still maintain longitudinal stability.
Checking the IMO# of Zhen Hua 29, her previous lives include this Merbabu. I’m unable to find photos of her as Cook Spirit or Blue Sky River.
tugster: a waterblog 
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August 17, 2023 at 1:43 pm
George Schneider
To my knowledge the ZHEN HUA group are all former supertankers modified to do this kind of work. The numbers are in order of their conversion, and it appears they exhaust them fairly quickly. That might be from ever-improving designs, but structural failure is also a pretty good guess.
These are different from the similar-looking submersible carriers. These have no need to be submerged to float cargo aboard. Both variants amaze me with their ability to cross the seas and not lose their cargo; they’re obviously a lot more than just a hull with a deck.