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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.
What’s this?
I’m just trying to figure this out. My best guess is that suspended from a 20-ton capacity A-frame is a set of underwater hands, a sampling device, a seafloor-drill, all tallied 14 tons of instruments and tools in a seafloor frame.
I can’t tell you the division of labor between the equipment lowered/raised through an approximately 10′ x 10′ moon pool by the 90′ derrick and the seafloor drill. My guess is the the seafloor drill can function at great depth. Note the Panamanian registry.
All those portlights . . . relate to the 50+ crew the vessel can accommodate.
The helideck . . . 62′ diameter, can accommodate helicopters of the Bell 412 type, i.e., up to about 3.5 tons.
If you didn’t click on the equipment and specifications link earlier, my source for all I pretend to know here, you can click here now. Since she was anchored in Gravesend Bay yesterday, the tide pushing her stern toward shore, I managed to get my first photos of her stern. I have seen the vessel, working to amass wind farm bottom terrain data, several times since January 2018. With the green light to transform South Brooklyn Marine Terminal into a dedicated wind farm construction hub, I suspect some interesting and exotic vessels will be transiting the Narrows in the next few years.
All photos and attempted interpretation, WVD.
Maybe a reader out there can explain how this equipment really works and what super-detailed examples of bathymetric chart of the New York Bight look like.
It was my first time to see her. She arrived this morning after a monthlong voyage from Busan, which she departed on December 17. With her containers all squared away, I’d gather she has delivered a full load.
CSCL operates eight of these vessels, valued at $117 million each.
The sight of these giants gives pause. China’s first container ship, Ping Xiang Cheng, launched in 1978 for a route between Shanghai and ports of eastern Australia carried 162 containers! Their first service to US ports came in 1981.
Who then could have imagined these.
Mariner gear in 2021 . . . it’s not what I’d expect.
With the two crew above and these four, this must be half or more of the deck crew.
For an afternoon’s reading, click here for an analysis of the shipyard which builds these behemoths and many other types of ships.
All photos this morning, WVD.
Find a great diagram here, as well as this quote: “container carrying capacity has increased 1200% since 1968.” This increased size drives developments in escort tugs.
As of 2021, the sixth boro has accommodated vessels no larger than 15,000 teu, like CMA CGM Argentina. These can be called mother ships, since they can call in only a limited number of ports in the US for reasons of draft, air draft, and crane size. Vying for position as the largest, Liebherr appears to have a 25-row crane design, while ZPMC has a 26-row product.
Count them, it looks like Argentina has 20 rows across. Imagine each of these row, each of these containers, as towed by a truck on the highway lane beside you.
YM Wellhead, an odd name in my opinion, is one of 20 W-class 14,000 teu ships. World was the first of this class that I caught.
She departed the sixth boro yesterday, sans the container that crossed the VZ as she made her way out.
Back in spring 2017, Cosco Development was the largest container ship to transit the new locks in Panama. Her capacity is just over 13,000 teu.
At least half dozen Hyundai vessels have called in the sixth boro of late, all around 13000 teu.
I was surprised when the docking pilot boarded up the companionway.
Cosco Shipping Camellia is one of more than half dozen Cosco Shipping “flower-class” vessels to call hewre, all around 13,500 teu.
Orchid is a sister vessel, and in the next day or so, Sakura will arrive.
The most powerful escort tugboats in the sixth boro shrink in size alongside these behemoths.
All photos and interpretation of info, WVD, who wonders what the next milestone of any sort the sixth boro will see.
I can’t leave you on the Gowanus Canal as I did a week ago, so let’s head back. Here’s a look back; small tug Jimmy moves into our location with a mini mud scow. Btw, if you’re unfamiliar with Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal, here‘s a bit of history.
From the inland side of the Ninth Avenue Bridge, we move through, looking toward the Hamilton Street Bridge and the BQE. NYC DOT oversees 24 moveable bridges; you’re looking at two of them right here.
You’ve seen signs of “entering” and “leaving” on terrestrial thoroughfares. This one on the Hamilton Street bridge is unusual.
We move our load of pilings, old but preserved in whatever you’d call Gowanus water. Note the curve in the Canal just beyond the bridge.
Every day, hundreds of thousands of people travel atop this Gowanus Expressway/BQE bridge. Maybe dozens see its underside.
The Hamilton Avenue Marine Transfer Station has been open for just over three years. For a look inside, click here.
In a previous post on “trashed universal product,” you can see the outbound transfer stations. More on the whole process here.
Much more unexpected along the south bank of the Canal Bay are these “sea float” Siemens 76-MW aeroderivative gas turbines.
As much as I can tell, these units have been here for just over a year.
Here‘s more on Vard Marine’s involvement with Siemens SeaFloat. These must have been towed in, Did anyone catch this?
As the spray denotes, we’ve now out of the Gowanus Canal, which may or may not be named for a Lenape chief, and headed over to a disposal site, but that’ll be another post. Lots more facts about the canal in the link in the previous sentence.
Many thanks to James for the trip. All photos, interpretation, WVD.
More Gowanus soon, but for now, this follows a post from a few years back called “boxes on ships,” but what begs for attention here is the number of less common containers, these by a company called Agmark.
Maersk Vallvik actually has two centers of liquid bulk containers, Agmark toward the stern and Bertschi farther forward.
Bertschi is a Swiss company that transports, among many other things, cocoa butter, i.e., their self-described “heaven.”
All this brings me to what appears to be the biggest concentration of tanks . . . . Agmark’s. According to their site, they transport the following: “Dairy products, concentrated and single strength fruit juices, vegetable oils, spirits, wine, chocolate, alcohol, beverage preparations, essences, hot or cold bulk liquids, food products, chemicals, and fuels.”
So, this could have cold fruit juice, just like these, but in parcels rather than “shipfulls.” Others carry “rock juice” either by the shipfull or in parcels.
But i digress. I don’t know what Vallvik carried in those tanks; my point here is simply that she carried a lot of those tanks.
Back in 2013 this same vessel called attention for another type of container as here.
All photos, WVD. And that small craft in the photo above, maybe that’s in tomorrow’s post.
Another unusual container type, CATS, was featured here 10 years ago.
Ontario here means the province and the lake. In the NE corner of the lake lies Picton and Picton Terminals, homeport of a tug called Sheri Lynn S. Well, Sheri Lynn S just got a big sister, and one place to start the story is in UAE, Sharjah a few months back . . . in August.
Captain Tjalling van der Zee, of van der Zee Marine Services was engaged to deliver the new tug Amy Lynn D or ALD, a Damen 3209 Shoalbuster, the 9414 nm from UAE to Lake Ontario. Capt. van der Zee shared most of these photos. Here is more Damen Shoalbuster info. The first part of the voyage mostly circumnavigated the Arabian peninsula. Having lived there for three years, I can imagine the heat topping at least 100 F.
Part of the voyage transited areas of “unrest” and armed guards were on board for any annoyances, but these folks were just fishing. Jeddah was passed on October 17.
This is a view from the wheelhouse northbound in the Suez Canal around October 20. Pilots were required. Any guesses on the total number of pilots taken on this 9400+ nm trip? Answer follows.
ALD passed Sicily on October 26 . . . . it had traveled light until Algeciras SP, where a barge Jacob Joseph C carrying three Damen tugs was met. The small tugs were to be delivered to Halifax and Montreal.
This is the view of the barge from ALD after traveling offshore following the Great Circle.
Azores Ponta Delgada was seen on November 14. By the way, any idea of crew number? How about daily fuel consumption? All answers to follow.
An ingenious “selfie” was managed, albeit with an unsatisfactory camera, when instruments showed ALD and tow crossing fairly near an eastbound ship.
Big seas were part of the experience.
The tow arrived in Halifax on December 6. Mac Mackay documented the safe arrival here. Thx, Mac.
Two of the small tugs, both Damen Stan 1205 class, were offloaded in Halifax.
The remaining tug arrived in Montreal, where
it was discharged.
To enter the Saint Lawrence Seaway, Jacob George C was put on the nose and
I’m not sure who took this photo, but I borrowed it from the Picton Terminals FB page. It shows the tug and barge easing into a SLSW lock.
On the last morning, Nathan Jarvis, working on Robinson Bay, took this of the homestretch as ALD and JJC passed Clayton NY.
And finally . . . ALD and Jacob Joseph C tie up at Picton Terminals.
Many thanks to Picton Terminals and Capt. van der Zee for use of photos and time. Any errors are mine.
Some answers, 25 pilots, 6 crew (1 Dutch/South African and 5 Filipino), and approximately 1200 gallons of fuel daily. Last but not least . . . 82 nights on the boat.
The ONE Apus “dump” must have some folks wondering how containers are secured. The answer is lashing, and it is not new, but it has changed over centuries. Today’s lashing rods are an outgrowth of containerization, attempts to prevent what happened with ONE Apus and many other vessels. See the turnbuckles on the lower ends of the lashing rods, to tighten not too much but just right.
See more turnbuckles here, with the top ends connecting near the corner twist locks.
Here you see lashing rods between each of the stacks. Lashing rods bolster the twist lock connections, lower and upper corners, between containers on a stack.
Here closer up you can see the rods and the twist locks. Lashing requirements can be learned here. The gray structure below is a lashing bridge, which serves both as a platform for crew who attach the lashings and an anchor for the lashing rods. On corners of containers are interlocking cones. A short video on the hazards can be seen here.
Lashing bridges throughout the vessels can be seen clearly when a vessel carries no containers above the deck.
ACL prides itself on never having lost a container overboard because of these substantial structures between rows of containers.
Looking elsewhere around some ships, you may see a panel marked AMP. No, it’s not an amplifier for the crew rock band. AMP, alternate marine power, allows a vessel to plug into “shore power,” thereby reducing emissions in port. You may have heard of “cold ironing,” which this equipment facilitates; anyone downwind benefits from the improved air quality.
Follow the blue stack downward to see the location of this AMP panel.
Another vessel, another configuration.
A few years ago, I saw one here on Cosco Prince Rupert
port stern quarter, and also on
MOL Gratitude. I saw the first of these back in 2014 here.
And while we’re looking at details in the stern quarters, . . . check out the basket. It’s certainly not the first hoop I’ve seen on a ship. While we’re looking at this photo, check out the two roller fairleads, through which dock line is led to mitigate harmful line chafing.
All photos, WVD, who wishes you “happy looking.”
Timo Pajunen took this photo back in 2010. Here are my questions for you: whose livery? what mission? what was McArthur‘s original mission? I’ll answer at the end of the post.
Charles Ritchie took this. Hawk YTL-153 has fine pedigree: in 1941, she was built and launched in Pearl Harbor and was present during the attack. Since 1980, she’s been based in Narragansett Bay, operated by Specialty Diving Services Inc. Do I see this correctly that she’s being operated from a topside helm? Here is Charles Ritchie’s project.
When I posted Brad Ickes’ photos a month back, I forgot to post the best shots of Cable Queen he had sent. I hope this makes amends for my having misplaced them.
The other day I noticed Cable Queen is docked back at her usual spot, nestled in a corner just west of the Moran dock.
These days there are photos everywhere of the salvage of incorrectly-ballasted RORO Golden Ray. This structure, as I understand it, incorporates both a saw and a lift. This photo and the next two come from Chris Roehrig. These photos from gCaptain are stunning. The yellow structure over the wreck is Versabar’s VB 10,000, a heavy lift vessel launched in 2010.
Moving the deck barge around with portion of the wreck are Crosby tugs, Crosby Star, a 4200 hp boat, below and
to the left. The real eye-catcher here is Kurt J Crosby, here alongside Crosby Leader. Kurt J, according to the company website, packs a whopping 16500 hp! Have a look at their photo of the 2000 build. Crobsy Leader, dwarfed and mostly obscured here, itself is rated at 15000 hp. Seeing these behemoths at work would almost make a trip down there worthwhile.
Jack Ronalds sent along these photos from Strait of Canso. It’s Calusa Coast and her
tank barge Delaware. They’ve spent some years working on the Great Lakes and are now returning
to salt water. They have returned to the sixth boro, where I photographed her 13 years ago, but I’ve not yet seen them this visit. For a treasure trove of Jack Ronalds/marine traffic photos, click here.
Getting back to that first photo, MV McArthur began life in 1965 as NOAAS McArthur (S330). She was decommissioned in 2003. In 2006 she was purchased by Blackwater USA (you’ve heard of them and their founder Eric Prince?) who offered it as a “warship for hire.” In the murk, Blackwater USA morphed into a series of other private security businesses. MV McArthur became Eaton while operated by Saracen International. At last record, the Norfolk VA vessel flew the flag of Comoros and was called Maandeeq, and since AIS showed her last in June 2019 in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat, India, just north of Alang, I don’t think she’s chasing pirates anymore.
For a crazy tangent, Gujarat is the 9th largest state in India by population. At 9th place (of 34), it has a population greater than Italy, South Korea, Spain, Poland, etc. It’s way larger than Canada, whose population is currently at 37 million. India’s largest state by population, Uttar Pradesh, is 200 million, which would make it the 8th largest country in the world by population, bigger than Russia, Mexico, Japan, etc . . . But I digress.
Many thanks to Timo, Charles, Brad, Chris, and Jack for sharing these photos.
Related: If you’ve not yet read Chris Maag’s story on NY sixth boro shipping, you can read it here, and enjoy the photos/video by Chris Pedota as well.
Yesterday I mentioned novelty. This is mid November in this part of the sixth boro. For outatowners, this photo looks eastward from Liberty Landing Marina (aka the Morris Canal) toward lower Manhattan. Mid november! And there are sailboat lessons happening. But the “whatzit” is SeatheCity, a boxy catamaran with scant rearview vision. Note the attitude of the vessel . . . attitude in an air/water craft technical sense.
See the black “water line.” See what happens as you follow that black stripe from stern to bow. She’s a bit down by the nose.
Earlier in the day I’d seen the boat at the dock.
I couldn’t quite figure out what its specialty was.
Platforms . . . flimsy ones, I wondered. Finally it came to me.
To my good fortune, I happened to be back at the marina later in the day to see the activity now happening there. It’s a startup, I believe, that launched during the pandemic!
It just goes to show . . . novelty is everywhere. Call me speechless. Here‘s the website. Other cities like Seattle and San Diego have variants. I guess the Dutch came up with the Hot Tub Hot Tug. I suppose these are manufactured versions of hot springs, which are open all year round.
All photos, reportage, WVD.
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