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I hope you read my latest article, about Vane Brothers expanding to the Great Lakes. Here tugboat New York pushes Double Skin 509A (A for asphalt) into the Black Rock Canal (or channel) near Buffalo. Great history and aerial photos of the area can be seen here.
In the photo above, the Vane unit came off Lake Erie just beyond the Buffalo Breakwater Light on the white pedestal. Click here for the history of that light, that one in place since only 1961 because the previous was hit by Frontenac. GL tug Vermont, a strong and youthful product of 1914!!!, provides the assist. There are multiple turns in the Black Rock Canal, and bridges
such as the 1927 Peace Bridge.
The waterway is tricky because of the turns, bridges, and rocky sides. Of course, those factors can be controlled much more easily than the factors just west of the canal, the Niagara River which has currents up to 10 knots.
Past the lock, which you’ll see in the next post, it’s downstream. Vermont continues downstream, since it’ll be needed to assist in turning around at the terminal in Tonawanda.
I took these on a cold day in mid-December. Taking photos with a zoom outside is an excellent way to socially-distance. Others’ photos of this run and trade soon.
Click here to read an account in Vane’s Pipeline publication.
It’s March 1, and that invites a look back to March 2011.
Vinalines Queen is where I need to start. Less than two years after I took this photo, the 2005 bulk carrier was lost on a run between Morowali, Indonesia and China with a cargo of nickel ore, with the loss of all hands (22) except one.
Morowali has 19 nickel smelters. Nickel ore is considered the most dangerous bulk commodity. Two other nickel ships were lost in December 2010. Here‘s info about the single survivor of the sinking.
Assist here is provided by Miriam Moran.
Kongo Star was just off the ways when I took this photo; and the small tanker (13011 dwt) is still working and currently near Rotterdam, in fact, in the town where my father was born.
Entering the KVK, it’s Ross Sea and Houma, each with a barge. Houma was scrapped a few years ago already. Ross Sea is currently in Philly.
Heron, here passing CMA CGM Puget, was sold to a Nigerian company in 2012. The 4404 teu ship dates from 2002 and is currently traveling between Korea and Mexico.
Greenland Sea shows her Candies origins. She may currently be laid up. Torm Kristina just passed Cape Town, on a run between Asia and South America. She’s a large handysize crude tanker launched in 1999.
Ron G, now Captain Mark, is docked in Jacksonville.
It was in March 2011 that I first visited Puerto Rico. In Fajardo, I saw Isla Grande and Cayo Norte. Both are Blount boats, launched in 1976 and 1995, respectively. Cayo Norte is still working in Puerto Rico, although I’m not so sure about Isla Grande.
The 1973 Harvey Gamage is currently near Charleston SC. Can you recognize the tall ship off her stern?
Of course, it’s Bounty, launched in 1960 and lost over 100 miles SE of Cape Hatteras during Hurricane Sandy.
March 2011 was a busy month. I’ll post more photos of the month later.
All photos, WVD.
This photo of aframax BW Thalassa I took on Friday. Note the green BW slash about a third of the shiplength back from the bow.
Here’s a photo from Saturday, 24 hours later, after rain and fog have moved in. Note the green BW slash on the tanker beyond the Evergreen ship?
Ever Focus appears to have a maximum load aboard as she speeds toward Colon PA. A bit beyond Ambrose, AIS showed her at 19.2 kts, 22 mph.
See the Manhattan skyline? Not much. A few outlines appears along the shore of Manhattan, but nothing more shows. The new Janice Ann Reinauer is among the tug/barge units anchored there.
Bruce A. heads for a job,
as do Miriam and Helen.
CL Christina was inbound for Claremont, but again, fog obscured the bright shiny detail. Of course, the scrap loaded in Claremont has no bright shiny detail either.
All photos, WVD, who finds the fog frustrating even though it was around 50 degrees F, but this is how the harbor looks sometimes.
Unrelated: I just finished Shadow Divers, an account of the discovery of a U-boat wreck 60 miles off Point Pleasant. It’s a compelling read. It turns out there’s a counter-narrative also, Shadow Divers Exposed by Gary Gentile.
Here are the birds. Now what’s the rest of the story?
Part of the story is told by these flags, US courtesy, German registry, and is that a pilot flag?
She was large for a 2008 container ship: 1098′ x 140′ with a capacity of 8606 teu.
I’d love to know more about accessing that lifeboat, given the cargo configuration.
And where are the birds?
Doubleclick on that last photo to see the closeup . . . you can almost hear the excitement!
All photos, WVD.
Here are previous installments. What’s different here is that in this case I’m inside the Narrows and shooting to the east and north.
Yankee passes in light before sunrise.
I rotate the lens 90 degrees to the right and Margaret stands by
along with James D to support Maersk Chicago, anchored in Stapleton. As I write this, 24 hours later, the container ship is leaving port, although her destination shows NYC as both “from” and “to”….
Meanwhile Mary Turecamo comes out of its base in the KVK
just as the sun rises above the horizon and its cloudbank and gets reflected.
All photos, WVD, who thinks this set perfectly illustrates why I take photos at dawn whenever I can. It’s worth getting up and out.
Chem Mercury approaches the VZ.
The surprise for me was the registry: Luxemburg. She was in one day and out the next. The 2018 build has capacity of just under 20000 dwt.
Markos I is a 45999 dwt and 2005 build with more than twice the capacity of Chem Mercury.
Solar Katherine, a 2020 build with a capacity of 49699 dwt, here has Potomac alongside.
With Emily Miller doing a lap, Asprouda (2013) has the capacity of over 74000 dwt.
Phoenix Admiral is a 2011 build, with a capacity of
114024 dwt. She’s a frequent carrier of crude into the sixth boro from Point Tupper.
And Songa Winds, 2009, has a similar capacity to Chem Mercury, at the start.
All photos, WVD, in the past month.
She looks bigger than the 981′ she is. By today’s sixth boro standards, she’s not, and with a capacity for 9971 teu, she’s nowhere near the 15,072 of CMA CGM Panama, which I missed this week.
I’ve not noticed the wings to add lateral visibility near the stern, or
the starboard-offset stack.
As for the name, I’d thought the reference South American; in fact, it’s Asian, referring to high peaks shared by India and Pakistan, and a river that’s a tributary of the Indus.
All photos, WVD.
Justine has been back in the sixth boro awhile now after quite some time away.
She’s a 1982 product of Jakobson, one of the last half dozen built there. From this angle she reminds me of Siberian Sea, now Mike Azzolino. She works with 4000 hp.
Recent days have seen a convergence of the Cape-class,
Cape Lookout,
Cape Henry,
and Cape Canaveral, here pushing DBL 101.
They are attractive 5000 hp boats.
Also pushing an oil barge, Patriot, in fact, was Robert IV.
Usually that barge has Mary H as power.
Nicole Leigh finished fueling, brought down the red flag, and spun around to rejoin her barge.
Her Caterpillars deliver a total of 7200 hp to her wheels.
And closing, it’s the 6770 hp Capt. Brian A. escorting Zim Tarragona out to sea.
All photos, WVD.
I’ve seen blue, orange, and white. Green is the only remaining Seatrade specialized reefer I’ve yet to photograph. The other day I caught Seatrade Red outbound.
Jonathan C. accompanied her out to retrieve the pilot.
Seatrade was established in 1951, and chose to focus on small reefer vessels. The fleet is comprised of about 50 vessels, but there are only five in the “colour” class of reefer container carriers.
Jonathan C. accompanied her out to retrieve the pilot, and then spun around
for the next job. I count six people in the photo above.
Seatrade Green just left Tauranga NZ with an ETA at the Panama Canal westside for March 11, so at some point in late March the Green could be back in the sixth boro.
All photos, WVD. And below, from March 2012, is a photo of another type of Seatrade reefer, Buzzard Bay.
Barrington Island, which used to be a regular in the sixth boro, is also part of their fleet.
Location 1? Do you know this tug?
Location 2. Tug Rachel is with this
unusual looking cargo ship, Lihue.
Viking pushes southbound past Castle Rock and
Comet northbound along the Hudson River.
Near the west end of the East River, it’s C. Angelo and
near the east end, it’s Navigator with GT Bulkmaster heading west and Ellen McAllister, east.
Working near the TZ Bridge some years back, it’s Tappan Zee II.
And finally, on the northern end of Lake Huron, it’s Avenger IV
heading for the Soo.
To answer the first question, that’s Coney Island with the Goethals Bridge and Linden refinery in the background, making this the Elizabeth River in Elizabethport NJ.
And the second question, it’s Seattle. Photo thanks to Kyle Stubbs. Lihue, ex-President Hoover III, ex-Thomas E. Cuffe, 1971, may be at the end of Rachel‘s towline along the coast of Oregon, heading for the Panama Canal and then . . . Texas for scrap. She’s probably the last of LASH (C8-S-81e) vessels built, along with President Tyler IV and President Grant V, scrapped more than 10 years ago. She’s been a survivor.
Click on the photo below to learn more about a 1970 container ship still moving boxes, up to 482 teu at a time. Explorador!
All other photos, WVD, at points in various places since 2017.
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