Go CONRO

Atlantic Star first arrived here four years ago, although that hardly seems possible.

Five identical vessels transport containers and anything “rolled on.”  See a partial cutaway here.

I’ve not yet made photos of Atlantic Sky and Sun, although I have noticed them either coming or going.

But I just learned they also carry passengers . . . it’s two weeks and three days from Hamburg to here.  More info here.

 

Has anyone reading this done it or know of someone who has?  I’d love to hear.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

Atlantic Star Sixth Boro Arrival 4

I admit to feeling a thrill.   There were rainbows in the upper bay, here falling past the Liberty statue and raining onto Liberty Island,

drama loomed as Atlantic Star was back in the Ambrose on the return from the Norfolk and Baltimore, Firefighter II was also outside the Narrows,

I could get the closeups,

clouds were dissipating at just the right moment,

Eric McAllister met the Star on the Con Hook Range,

there was even a private sailboat–Ratty’s Wisdom–that possibly carried VIPs . . . .  but nothing happened!  I had built this up too much for myself, and no sprayed salute occurred.

 

I’ll keep a watch . . . it has to happen one of these times.  Maybe it’s not proper, since Atlantic Star has not yet seen its Liverpudlian christening yet.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Atlantic Star Sixth Boro Arrival 3

Since it’s THE maiden voyage arrival, let’s follow her all the way to “all fast.”  Here were parts 1 and 2, which followed her from several miles out in the Ambrose Channel to the Narrows and then from there to mid-KVK.

Eric works the starboard and Ellen, the port.

 

The turn at Bergen Point is way more than 90 degrees . . . more like 135, and

takes well-timed thrusting at bow and stern.  Notice Atlantic Concert just above Eric‘s stern?

Atlantic Concert is completing its clockwise spin here to line up its stern ramp, a maneuver

 

that Atlantic Star will replicate.

 

 

Here Eric McAllister is beginning the push on the stern to assist with that clockwise spin;  Ellen and Atlantic Star‘s own three thrusters are also likely engaged.

Spin complete, Eric moves over to the port side to nudge Atlantic Star gently against the dock.  I wrote about the reverse maneuver here some years ago.

Getting a profile of these two CONROs lined up . . . is not easy, since they represent nearly a half mile of ship.

Foreshortening helps a little.

 

I’ll be watching for the remainder of the G4 vessels–Atlantic Sail, Atlantic Sea, Atlantic Sky, and Atlantic Sun.

All photos here by Will Van Dorp, with thanks  to NY Media Boat.

Also many thanks to JS, a retired harbor worker who made this connection for me between Atlantic Container Line, their generation 2 vessels, and John A. Noble.  The image below comes from pages 210 –11 of Erin Urban’s Hulls and Hulks in the Tide of Time, a must-read for all students of the sixth boro work boats.   Noble called the 1977 print “The Cinderella Passes the Occidental,” and then writes his sense of this new container ship passing the hulk of 1874 full-rigged ship called the Occidental.  He also alludes to having drawn the Atlantic Cinderella when she was brand new, but I have yet to locate copies of those drawings.  Oh well.  Many thanks to JS, whose previous contribution you might have seen here.

John A. Noble’s “The Cinderella Passes the Occidental”

Atlantic Star Sixth Boro Arrival 2

Let’s pick up from yesterday and follow Atlantic Star from the Narrows to the part of the KVK called the “salt pile.”  To the right off the stern of Atlantic Star, that’s lower Manhattan.

Ellen McAllister swoops in to deliver the docking pilot.  The signature “G” on the stack points to Grimaldi Group, of which ACL is an associate. Grimali’s West Africa service is a regular in the sixth boro with such vessels as Grande Morocco.

 

Seen from head-on, the bow is knife edged, but in profile it’s plumb. Yes, that’s the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

That’s Robbin Reef Light and WTC1 just off its right.  Atlantic Star and the other G4 vessels are operated by a crew of 16, compared with 21 for the G3 vessels like Atlantic Concert.

 

 

 

The cranes in the distance are at the MOTBY terminal.

We’re now in the KVK with the salt pile to port and

the Bayonne Bridge ahead, and Atlantic Concert being assisted beneath.

Eric McAllister joins, and we’ll pick it up there tomorrow.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, with thanks to the NY Media Boat for conveyance.

Atlantic Star Sixth Boro Arrival 1

Here was Atlantic Star approaching the Narrows on Saturday, still a half hour outside the Narrows.  She was launched at the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard almost a year ago, and this maiden cargo voyage began in Hamburg on December 9, 2015.    Note the FDNY escort boat just forward of her bow.

 

That’s the Verrazano Narrows Bridge off her bow and a fog-beshrouded WTC off her stern.

The generation 4 (G4)  Atlantic Star followed a G3 Atlantic Concert into port.   Here and here are views from different perspectives of other G3 ACL vessels, all dating from the mid-1980s.

 

 

More photos of the arrival tomorrow.

For a comparison of the G3 and G4 vessels by the numbers, click here and here.  For more detail on the vessel, click here.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, protected under creative commons license.  Also, conveyance would not have been possible without the NY Media Boat;  thanks Bjoern.

 

Random Tugs 153

No, I haven’t left the sixth boro.  Just yesterday I crossed paths with Allie B here at Atlantic Salt, purveyor of a safety product and patron of the arts.

It took a gray day for me to notice that the house colors along the KVK are reminiscent of those in coastal Canadian maritimes towns.  Allie B has been one of my favorite tugboats since I saw her depart on her epic tow here and here back in 2009.

Then I passed Evelyn Cutler, here with Noelle Cutler at Caddell Drydock.  Those are basic Wavertree masts in the background.  I first saw Evelyn

in red.

Here’s a first good photo of Dylan Cooper, the Reinauer tug that arrived in the sixth boro later last year.

 

I hope to get another of her here in a few years when that bridge is completed.

I believe Eric is the newest of McAllister tugs in the sixth boro.  And yes, here Eric is using her 5000+ hp to assist Atlantic Star, ACL‘s brand spanking new CONRO vessel into port yesterday on her maiden voyage.  I hope to have a post dedicated to Atlantic Star completed for tomorrow.

Eric is a product of the same Rhode Island shipyard that produced Dylan Cooper.  In the distance that’s one of ACL’s previous generation of CONRO vessels, Atlantic Concert.  Here’s an entire post dedicated to Atlantic Concert from 2009.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, with thanks to NY Media boat. 

And yes, I still have more of Barrel’s vintage USACE photos to share.